


Overtwisted

by Cyelle



Series: Twisting Reality [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Dimension Travel, F/M, Female!Uzumaki Naruto, Fix-It, Gen, Namikaze Minato Lives, Uchiha Obito Lives, does the tag count if they're from a different dimension?, kind of?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:46:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26435134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cyelle/pseuds/Cyelle
Summary: A spin-off of Twisting Reality, exploring how it could have been if Hikari (fem!Naruto), Kurama, Minato and Obito had ended up in the new world.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi & Namikaze Minato, Hatake Kakashi & Uchiha Obito, Hatake Kakashi & Uzumaki Naruto, Kyuubi | Nine-tails | Kurama & Uzumaki Naruto, Namikaze Minato & Uchiha Obito, Namikaze Minato & Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Itachi & Uchiha Shisui, Uchiha Itachi & Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Obito & Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Shisui/Uzumaki Naruto
Series: Twisting Reality [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1921555
Comments: 154
Kudos: 607





	1. Not the only one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What if Naruto and Kurama had not been alone in the new dimension?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy birthday to me!  
> As a present to myself and my beloved readers, I'm starting this collection of mini-stories, now turned into its own universe!
> 
> Credit to Wordsmyth for the title!
> 
> _“Jinchuuriki talking in mindscape”_  
>  ** _“Bijuu talking in mindscape”_**  
>  ** _'Bijuu's thoughts'_**  
>  “Normal speech”  
>  _‘Thoughts’_

Naruto groaned, feeling as though she had been stomped on by the Juubi before being dragged over a hundred mountains and finally thrown off a cliff. Every inch of her body was screaming in pain and she whimpered, trying to curl up despite the fox in her head yelling at her not to.

She distantly thought that Kurama might have a point but her pain-addled brain was too far gone to care.

Much to her consternation, hands on her body kept her from moving and she whimpered at the wave of pain that lit up every nerve when she jolted. Someone shushed her gently, running a soothing hand over her head.

“It…okay…ll…fine…”

“Why…she….ming!”

Naruto could hear two voices, one filled with forced calm and the other yelling. But she could tell that they both held an undercurrent of concern. Oh wait, she could actually tell that for herself. Seemed like the pain was receding.

_“Kurama?”_

**_“Not now, kit. Talk to the others if you want but don’t disturb me. You’re not healed yet.”_ **

_“Kay.”_

The girl pried her eyes open, instantly meeting a pair of very familiar blue eyes.

Minato looked down at his daughter with worry; Naruto had stopped screaming but her face was still twisted in pain. Behind them, Obito was pacing anxiously, muttering to himself under his breath.

“Naruto? Can you hear me?” Minato asked when his little girl opened her eyes. The question made the Uchiha still and peer over the man’s shoulder at the Jinchuuriki.

“…dad? Obito?”

“Nice to finally hear your normal voice, brat.”

“Sorry…”

Shaking his head slightly at the by-play, Minato helped Naruto sit up. Blue eyes flickered up to his face, confusion swimming in them. “Dad…your eyes…”

“Yeah. It seems that I’m no longer an Edo Tensei.”

Obito snorted. “He’s not the only one who’s different. Although _you’ve_ changed the most.”

“Huh?” Naruto blinked, not quite understanding what he was saying. Now that the pain in her body was mostly gone, she could see for herself that Minato was indeed no longer an Edo Tensei and if what she could hear could be trusted…

Her father had a _heartbeat._

_He was alive._

The Uchiha had changed too but not much; he still had the scars on his face but he looked younger. His chakra felt different as well; the ever-present sorrow was there but it felt less tainted by Zetsu.

_‘Wait, I’ve changed too…?’_

Naruto looked down at herself, jaw dropping when she realized that she had been de-aged to a _child_.

**_“Not the only change, kit. Your hair’s red and you look a little more like your mother, except for your eyes.”_ **

Diving into her mindscape at the sound of her partner’s voice, Naruto stared down at her reflection in the water. Her appearance was nothing like her former self; like Kurama had said, she resembled her mother with her father’s eyes, in both shape and color.

 _“What happened?”_ she asked, eyeing the tired form of the Bijuu with worry. _“Wait, before that; are you okay?”_

Kurama yawned and dropped his head on his front paws. **_“A little chakra drained,”_** he admitted, huffing when the new redhead threw herself at him in alarm. **_“It took a lot to keep the three of you in one piece.”_**

_“What happened?”_

**_“It appears that we’re in a different dimension. The energy of this world is slightly off from what I remember of ours.”_ **

_“What?!”_

**_“Stop yelling, brat. Go brainstorm with the other two idiots.”_ **

With that Naruto was booted out of her mindscape, immediately being met with two concerned stares. “I’m fine now,” she waved off Minato and Obito’s unspoken questions. She got to her feet gingerly, her father hovering next to her with his arms held out to catch her, should she fall. “Kurama says we’re in a different dimension.”

The proof was right in front of her eyes; after Kaguya’s rampage, almost ninety-five percent of the planet had been turned to ashes and the sky was always blood-red. But surrounding the three humans were lush, green trees as far the eye could see, the air fresh and clean, the night sky with twinkling stars.

“Not time travel?” Obito asked as he looked around too, but his voice said that he was less interested in the answer and more of confirming their current situation.

“No. Apparently the energy of this world is different.”

Minato cut in, “I think we should find out where we are first. Judging by the trees, I’d say we’re in Hi no Kuni. Perhaps we should find a village?”

“Good idea, dad. But let’s clean up first,” Naruto suggested, grimacing at the state of her clothes. Minato and Obito were mostly fine but thanks to her massive decrease in size, her clothes were baggy on her and she was barefoot. And _all_ of them were bloody, even Minato which was strange since he had been an Edo Tensei until recently. “I can hear a stream nearby.”

Giving in and letting her father carry her when he sent a pitiful expression at her, Naruto directed the two men towards the stream. A quick dip later, the three were huddled around a small fire. Obito had caught some fish for them and they ate slowly as they discussed about how they had been thrown between dimensions.

They finally concluded that it had been likely a combination of Kaguya’s Gudoudama, Minato’s Hiraishin and Obito’s Kamui, and that the circumstances were highly impossible to replicate.

Not that any of them wanted to go back; there was nothing but a devastated world left in their original dimension.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posted: 13/09/2020


	2. A father's rage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuation of chapter 1.  
> Minato, Obito and Hikari arrive in Konoha!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is for JoySalvatore, from their [comment](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26435134/comments/344825449).

“Kurama says he has a theory about our changes,” Naruto said absently as she adjusted her hood over her hair. For those who knew about the Uzumaki, her crimson locks were a dead giveaway and she did not want the attention the vibrant color would no doubt garner.

Minato also adjusted his own cloak; the trio had procured their clothing from a small village near where they had arrived. He knew he would also attract attention, if not more than his daughter.

After all, the Yondaime was supposed to be dead in this world, from what little information they had managed to get from the villagers.

“So? What did the fox have to say?” Obito asked impatiently when the girl did not continue, arms crossed over his chest. He was the only one who didn’t bother with hiding his face; he wasn’t well-known and he wasn’t conscious about his scars, although he did wear a cloak.

“He says that your counterparts are dead in this dimension,” Naruto winced as the words left her; it was kind of strange when Minato and Obito were _right there_. “The two of you are apparently filling a void, hence the changes,” she gestured to her now alive father and Obito, who actually was younger.

“What about you?” Minato asked, a little curious. He wasn’t surprised that his counterpart was dead, considering that the Kyuubi’s attack on Konoha had occurred in this world too. But Obito was a surprise; if his counterpart had also been responsible for the Kyuubi, then there was a serious question about how he had died.

If he added up all these tidbits of information, Minato could come to a reasonable conclusion about his daughter’s transformation but he waited for Kurama’s theory.

“My counterpart has to be alive. Kurama says that two of the same soul can’t exist at the same time and I as the ‘outsider’ had to change if I wanted to live.”

Obito studied the girl’s appearance, taking in all the differences. While she still retained her blue eyes, they were now shaped like her father’s and her hair was obviously from her mother. All in all, Naruto looked like a mini-Kushina at the moment, but the Uchiha suspected that she would resemble Minato more than her mother when she grew up and lost the baby fat.

“So you’ve changed on a genetic level while we’re how our counterparts would have been if they were alive,” Obito surmised, not surprised when Naruto nodded in agreement.

“I can’t be ‘Naruto’ here,” she pointed out, not really concerned that her identity was all but stripped away from her. It wasn’t the worst thing that could happen, considering everything she had gone through. “There’s already a ‘Naruto’ here and my DNA was modified to give me a different existence.”

“I’m still the daughter of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina,” she said with a smile when Minato opened his mouth, predicting what her father was going to say. “Just not ‘Naruto’.”

Minato pulled the redhead into a hug; he didn’t care if her DNA had changed and made her a different person. She was still his little girl, blood relation or not.

* * *

Obito stared up at the redhead perched on a high branch; although she was supposed to be nineteen, she currently looked like a seven-year-old. Not that he had any room to comment. He himself looked like his eighteen-year-old self, not the thirty-three he actually was.

“Why are we going straight to Konoha again?”

The newly dubbed Hikari squinted into the distance, trying to use her diminished sensing ability to find their way to the village. They had decided to give her a new name, now that she could no longer be ‘Naruto’. It was best that they separate her as much as possible from her counterpart, to minimize any chance of jeopardizing her existence. It had been the Kyuubi who had chosen the name ‘Hikari’.

For a grumpy old fox, Kurama sure was sentimental.

“Because I want to check on my counterpart,” Hikari replied, not turning to look at the Uchiha. “From what we’ve learnt, he or she should be around three years old. I’m not sure how the Konoha of this world is treating them and I want to be sure that they're safe.”

Obito snorted but backed down. “Fair enough.”

“Wait, _what_? What is that supposed to mean?”

Both Hikari and Obito stiffened, the former panicking a little. While Minato had known that his daughter had not had an easy life, he didn’t know the specifics. War was not a good time for spilling life stories and Hikari had moved on long ago.

“Umm…shouldn’t we be going now?! Yeah, let’s go!”

Minato grabbed the back of the girl’s cloak, blue eyes narrowed as he frowned down at her. “You’re not getting away that easily, young lady,” he told her, making Hikari laugh sheepishly. “Now, what did you mean by that?”

Hikari sighed. “Let’s talk as we go, okay?”

“…fine.”

In order to have time for their conversation, the trio walked instead of travelling via the branches. “Let’s see…where should I start?” Hikari pondered, tapping a finger against her chin. None of her early years had been pleasant and she was sure that her father was going to flip.

And he delivered.

Hikari eyed her father warily, inching away from the cold rage emanating from him. “I’ve never seen him this pissed off,” Obito muttered, an eyebrow raised as he watched his teacher. “Well, what did you expect?!” the redhead hissed, glaring at the Uchiha. “He just learnt that I was practically abandoned by everyone! Not to mention the villagers’ prejudice!”

“True,” the dark-haired man shrugged. “Was the entire orphanage involved in your mistreatment?” he asked casually.

 _Too_ casually.

Hikari slapped a palm against her forehead, utterly exasperated. “You’re mad too, aren’t you, Obito?” she asked pointedly, jabbing a finger into his side. While she was touched that the two of them were angry on her behalf, she had forgiven the villagers for their actions even if she could never forget most of them. And she didn’t need Minato and Obito attempting to level Konoha in their fury.

Wait.

Scratch attempting.

They would definitely succeed.

“Oi, you two,” Hikari snapped, smacking both men on their forearms and glaring when they looked at her. “There will be no murdering or maiming when we get to Konoha. You _will_ be calm and only look for Naruto, got it?”

Obito harrumphed and turned away while Minato stared impassively at her. “You’ve forgiven them?” he asked quietly.

“Yes. Or well, to an extent. I just don’t want any trouble.”

The blond stared at his daughter for a little longer but finally nodded, although grudgingly. He picked her up and settled her on his hip like a child, wanting the proximity to assure himself that she was safe. Hikari rolled her eyes but went willingly enough, wrapping her arms around Minato’s neck.

They walked in silence for a while, simply reveling in the nature around them. The war against Kaguya and Zetsu had taken a toll on their physical and mental selves; just having time to relax and move at their pace was doing wonders for them.

Hikari piped up after a while, “Hey, are we going to walk straight up to the gates?”

“I thought we’d sneak in,” Obito suggested, looking at her out the corner of his eye. “Sensei and I are supposed to be dead and you shouldn’t even exist.”

“You have a point…what about you, Dad? What do you think?”

“I agree with Obito,” Minato replied, smile a little strained. “The only ones I want to see in the village are Kakashi and your counterpart.”

And he was sure he would punch any villager he came across in the face if they crowded him.

The redhead shrugged, leaning all her weight on her father. “I don’t have a preference,” she mumbled into his shoulder. “As long as we don’t kick up a fuss, I’m fine with anything.”

“Sneaking in it is then.”

Two hours later saw the three of them atop a tree, hidden under Hikari’s seals. “Finally,” Obito muttered, staring at the village looming ahead of them. He hadn’t called Konoha home in years and honestly, he didn’t care to.

As long as he had Hikari, Minato and perhaps this world’s Kakashi and Naruto, he was fine with living in a cave.

A nudge to his elbow pulled him out of his morose thoughts and the Uchiha looked down to see Hikari smiling at him. No doubt she had picked up on his emotions.

Obito looked away and cleared his throat. “Can you sense your counterpart, brat?” he asked gruffly. “I don’t care to go on a wild goose chase around the entire village.”

“I…I can’t actually can’t,” the redhead admitted. “My range has reduced a lot…maybe if I was in the center of the village?”

Minato interrupted them, settling his daughter down on the branch under his feet. “Let me try Sage Mode.”

“Oh, good idea!”

Hikari and Obito backed away a little to give him some space. A few moments later, Hikari sensed the shift into Sage Mode but frowned at the pale green covering his eyelids instead of the customary orange. It seemed like the loss of the Toad Summoning Contract affected Sage Mode but she hoped that the loss was only superficial.

“I can’t tell anything,” Minato said after a few minutes, a thin thread of frustration in his voice as he let Sage Mode drop. “Either your counterpart has a different chakra signature or he or she is not in the village.”

**_“Likely the former.”_ **

_“Kurama!”_ Hikari blinked; one second she was in the forest and the next in her mindscape in front of the Bijuu. _“What do you mean?”_

**_“I can sense my counterpart in the village. If the other brat is the Jinchuuriki, then your counterpart is in there. Can’t pinpoint where though.”_ **

_“Huh…thanks, Kurama.”_

She passed on the information to Minato and Obito, adding wryly, “I think our best bet is to head to the center of Konoha. I can try to use my emotion sensing to find Naruto. The most amount of ill-intent was focused on me a lot, after all.”

Minato grimaced at the reminder of the villagers’ cruelty towards his daughter while Obito’s scowl deepened. “Kamui can take us there,” he said abruptly. “Come on.”

* * *

The air twisted in a swirl atop one of the houses in the middle of Konoha, proceeding to dump three hooded figures on the roof. No one noticed their arrival, because they were still hidden under Hikari’s seals. Said girl took a deep breath and closed her eyes, activating her emotion sensing ability. She had learnt to consciously use it, due to being overwhelmed by negativity during the war.

Minato and Obito stood out because of their proximity, the blond a beacon of suppressed rage and sharp concern while the Uchiha was a mess of frustration hiding hints of worry. Hikari winced minutely at the rush of emotions from all the people around her, ruthlessly ignoring them as she sought to find the emotions she remembered of her childhood.

There.

A tiny pinprick of fear, pain and unbearable despair.

White-hot rage.

That was all Minato could feel upon hearing this world’s Naruto’s current location fall from his daughter’s lips. That child was not his but the Namikaze still felt a connection and to hear what the villagers had done…

To both Hikari and Naruto…

_Red Light District._

Minato knew he was fortunate to have grown up in the orphanage instead of on the streets, having heard enough horror stories to know what happened to children there, especially in the Red Light District. If his fury at Konoha had been a flame earlier, it was a literal furnace right now.

 _‘Good thing Hikari’s seals are so powerful,’_ he thought absently as he leapt off a roof, feeling more than hearing Obito and Hikari following him. _‘I would have brought the entirety of Konoha on our heads with the amount of chakra I’m leaking.’_

“Down there,” Hikari’s voice interrupted his thoughts and the blond slanted a glance at her to see where she was pointing. There was a dark alley just ahead and the trio stopped on the roof nearest to it. The shadows were too thick to make out anything but silhouettes from where they were standing but Minato could feel a chakra signature in the gloom.

It wasn’t quite recognizable but now that he was closer he could pick out faint similarities to his own daughter’s chakra signature.

“H-Hey! The demon…he ran in there!”

A slurred voice echoed in the alley all of a sudden and three heads snapped in the direction of the source. Obito wrinkled his nose at the stench of alcohol wafting off the man, noticeable despite the distance. Four more men stumbled following the first one. All of them were swaying on their feet, clearly inebriated although it was rather early in the day.

“Demon?” Minato echoed quietly, blue eyes icy as he looked to his daughter for an answer. He already knew who they were referring to but still hoped to be answered negatively.

For her part, Hikari grimaced and turned away. Unlike Minato and Obito who had fixated on the insult, she had noticed something else. _‘Naruto is a boy in this world. Weird, but who cares?’_ she shrugged internally before nonchalantly answering her father.

“You know who.”

The sound of shattering glass almost drowned out the whimper but the redhead’s enhanced picked up on it. Hikari was moving before she even realized it, one leg swiping out to knock the drunkard off his feet.

“Stay away from him!”

Unfortunately for her, the man didn’t feel threatened by her small stature and instead yelled, “You little brat! You can die with the demon too!”

The five men advanced on the cloaked girl who stood her ground, completely unconcerned with a bunch of drunk, untrained civilians. But she didn’t need to do anything at all.

“Don’t you _dare_ touch my children!”

Minato dropped down in front of the redhead with barely a whisper of sound, punching the first man in the face. The drunk staggered back into his friends from the force of the blow, clutching his broken and bleeding nose.

“Who the hell…are…y…”

The threatening words drifted off as he took in the dangerous aura emanating from the cloaked man in front of him. He gulped, taking a single step back. However, his friends were too high on the euphoria of having cornered the demon brat and instead launched themselves at the cloaked duo in front of them.

Obito took that moment to leap off the roof, jumping on the walls of the alley as he went down and landed solidly on one of the men’s back, who collapsed with a wheeze. Not losing his momentum, the Uchiha clotheslined another while simultaneously kicking away the man Minato had punched. Obito spun on his heel, grabbing the last two men and crashing their heads together.

All of this took barely five seconds and the five civilians laid on the dirty ground, gasping for breath and aching all over.

The teacher-student duo had not taken it easy on them.

“You’re disgusting,” Minato spat as Obito hopped back to stand next to him, fists still clenched in anger. This wasn’t the Konoha that he and his counterpart had given his life for, even sacrificing his family in the process. “You would dare lay a hand on a _child_? And revel in it?”

“They’re self-serving idiots with barely any brain cells,” Obito commented offhandedly, arms crossed over his chest.

Screaming when the Namikaze drew a kunai, the cowards dragged themselves to their feet and ran away, yelling about demons and monsters. The two cloaked men growled in unison and made to follow them, but a voice from behind stopped them.

“Dad! Obito!” Hikari snapped, a frown on her face as she pulled her hood down and looked around for her counterpart. “Prioritize!”

Minato forcibly reigned in his anger, pinching the bridge of his nose as he exhaled deeply. “Right,” he muttered to himself. “Naruto’s more important.”

“I’ll leave the both of you to it.” Obito stepped to a corner, turning away from where the five idiots had run, “I’m no good with kids.”

Hikari rolled her eyes at the grumbled words but didn’t comment, listening for any sounds. She narrowed down the possibilities to a bunch of crates stacked a few feet from where she was standing and approached cautiously.

“Naruto?”

“Go away!”

The fear filled shout tugged at her heartstrings, knowing that the others felt similarly, judging by how Minato stiffened, expression going blank, and Obito turned to the side with a grimace.

The redhead walked towards the hiding boy anyway, crouching a couple of feet away. “It’s okay, Naruto,” she murmured in a soothing tone, in an attempt to coax him out.

It worked; a bright blue eye peeked out from behind a half-broken crate, the three-year-old staring at her suspiciously. What Hikari could see of his face was dirty, with streaks of bruised skin visible because of tears. “Hi there,” she whispered, smiling gently.

“Hello…” Naruto replied uncertainly, a trace of doubt in his voice as he took in the two adults standing some distance away. “No hurt me?”

“Never,” the girl said, smile turning a touch sad but she didn’t let it falter. Gesturing to the large bruise covering his face, she asked, “Can I help?”

“Make owie go away?”

“Yeah.”

“…okay.”

Despite the agreement, the toddler still eyed her approaching hand with fear and suspicion, flinching violently when the limb made contact with his cheek.

But the pain he was expecting did not come.

Instead, a warmth spread from the girl’s palm, soothing the pain from the injury. The bruise was gone in a matter of seconds and Hikari rubbed her fingers against the boy’s cheek, wiping away the grime. Naruto giggled at the ticklish feeling and came out from behind the crate. This girl was nice and the two adults behind her weren’t like the bad men who screamed and threw things at him.

“Owie gone?”

“Yeah!”

“Good. Now there’s someone I want you to meet. Dad, get over here!”

* * *

Minato spaced out the instant he saw the large purple bruise on the blond toddler’s cheek, red coloring his vision as his fury rose up inside him again.

_‘How could people do this to a little boy?’_

The older blond was no stranger to the dark side of humans; he had fought in a war and knew what people would do in order to survive. In case of the psychotic ones, what they would do for their own sick pleasure. But to see cruelty of a similar form inflicted on an innocent child was disgusting and Minato wanted to rip out the throats of those involved.

It was Hikari’s call that jolted him out of the dark turn his thoughts had taken and the older blond blinked but smiled to make himself look friendly when the redhead gestured for him. “What is it, Hikari?”

“Here,” she instead said, to the toddler rather than address her father, turning Naruto to face the adult who looked a lot like him. “Say hi to your daddy, Naruto.”

Both blonds froze, one with dawning hope and the other with shock. Minato glanced at his daughter, who mouthed _’Just go along with it’_ over Naruto’s head. He understood what she was planning, inwardly marveling at how quickly she had managed to separate herself from her counterpart.

And it wasn’t that he couldn’t see where she was coming from; hadn’t he himself claimed the boy as his own just a few moments ago?

A tug on his pants made Minato shift his gaze from the girl; Naruto was looking up at him with an expression of such heartbreaking hope, blue eyes glistening with tears.

“Daddy?”

“Hi, Naruto…”

Minato swallowed, crouching to be at the boy’s level. He let his smile soften in reassurance and spread his arms in welcome.

And not a moment too soon.

Naruto threw himself at the man with a sob, tiny hands clenching onto the material of the other’s cloak. An arm wrapped around his back in a firm but comforting manner and a hand cradled the back of his head gently. The little blond nestled closer, seeking more of the warmth of the hug.

Finally, he had someone to hug and protect him, just like the other kids.

Minato tightened his grip when the child in his arms cried himself to sleep and not taking his eyes off his now son, he asked, voice hoarse with a hint of unshed tears, “Is it wrong that I want to kill everyone in the village?”

“No. No, it isn’t.”

The reply came from Obito who had inched closer and sat down next to the two blonds, the lines around his eyes tightening when he got a clearer look at the bruises on the child’s skin. The bony arms and malnourished form didn’t help either. “Should have punched those bastards harder.”

A thin crimson eyebrow twitched and Hikari clapped her hands together, startling the two men. “No one is going to kill anyone,” she told them sternly. “Like I said, little Naruto is our first priority and I’ll be damned before I let him down, even if I have to go through both of you.”

“But-”

“No, Dad,” she cut off the Namikaze in an aggressive tone, openly glaring. “You accepted responsibility when you let him consider you his father and you better live up to it. I may be smaller now but that doesn’t mean I can’t kick your butt if I need to.”

Minato winced, reminded of what he had resolved to himself a little while ago. “Sorry, Hikari; I lost my head for a bit there,” he said as he got to his feet, Naruto tucked against his chest. “What are we going to do now?”

“We can either go to the Sandaime,” Obito’s face told the others what he thought about that option even as he said it, “…or we can leave the village.”

“…why the second option?”

“Face it, brat; Sensei and I are more likely to stab someone in the face if we hear one word against your mini-me.” The Uchiha ignored the flailing and protesting that the toddler wasn’t her ‘mini-me’, rolling his eyes when the redhead tackled him. “Besides, _you_ know better than anyone that he’s only going to get a toxic environment in Konoha, even if we disclose his parentage.”

“You’ve got a point,” Hikari grumbled, crossing her arms with a huff. She eyed her father, “What do you think, Dad?”

Minato took in both his children, then looked towards the entrance to the alleyway. His expression twisted into a grimace. “I agree with Obito,” he admitted softly. There really wasn’t much for him in Konoha and it might do all of them some good if they left the village for at least a few years.

“Alright then. Guess we’re going to do some travelling then. I’ve always wanted to explore the world for fun anyway.”

Decision made, the small group disappeared from the dirty alleyway, using a Hiraishin marker Minato had left out in the forest in case things went south.

Hikari trailed behind, looking over her shoulder at the diminishing sight of Konoha. Simply leaving like that wouldn’t solve many things but she accepted that it was currently for the best. Naruto could grow up surrounded by love and happiness; Minato, Obito and herself could use the time to get their bearings in this new world.

There were definitely a lot of loose ends, Kakashi for one, not to mention the multitude of issues that Konoha would have to face.

But those could wait for a little longer.

Just until Minato, Obito and Hikari were a little more stable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter mostly explores Minato's reaction but I'm planning on writing a chapter for Naruto and Kakashi eventually.  
> (I get the feeling that Overtwisted is turning out to be an alternate version of Twisting Reality...)
> 
> If anyone wants to see something in the Twisting Reality universe, leave a comment and I'll see if I can make it a part of either story!
> 
> Regarding an update on Twisting Reality, I'm hoping to post a new chapter by Oct 24. I've been overworked lately so I haven't had much time to write.... ;-;
> 
> Posted: 19/10/2020


	3. Unexpected reunions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poor Kakashi flips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _“Jinchuuriki talking in mindscape”_  
>  ** _“Bijuu talking in mindscape”_**  
>  ** _'Bijuu's thoughts'_**  
>  “Normal speech”  
>  _‘Thoughts’_

A dog-masked ANBU dragged himself into Konoha, exhaustion weighing down his limbs, but he forged on. To him, rest meant the return of his blood-drenched nightmares and he would do anything to avoid that.

He stuck to the shadows, making his way to the Hokage Tower. All he wanted to do at that moment was to report in, then take off to the orphanage to watch over the last bit of light he still had in his life. The little blond boy was a reminder of his many mistakes but also his last tether to sanity, a fragile thread holding him together.

So lost he was in his own mind, that he did not notice the tension in the village.

It wasn’t until he was standing in front of the Hokage that the ANBU noticed but he paid it no mind, focusing on delivering his report.

“May I be excused, Hokage-sama?” he asked when he was done, itching to leave.

The Sandaime sighed, a strange sort of grief on his aged features. “Please remove your mask, Kakashi-kun,” the old man requested softly. “There is something I need to tell you.”

The ANBU frowned but did as requested, hooking the mask on his belt. “Hokage-sama? Is something wrong?”

“It depends on who you ask that,” Hiruzen muttered, a dark undertone in his voice. He straightened, wanting to look the teen in the eye as he spoke. “As you know, I check on the different facilities in the village every month. After the Kyuubi festival, I went to visit the orphanage.”

Kakashi understood; it was a clever way to disguise the fact that the Sarutobi was more interested in checking on a certain child rather the orphanage itself.

"It went as usual, up until I asked to see Naruto-kun.”

Now Kakashi felt a lump in his throat, fear beginning to choke him. He knew that the conversation was going to head downhill.

“They told me they had thrown him out.”

Silence.

“ ** _What_**?!” Kakashi burst out, fury filling him at the cruelty inflicted upon an innocent child, his sensei’s son.

Hiruzen rapidly continued before the teen could run off to get his revenge, which would definitely result in tons of murdered civilians, “Rest assured that the ones involved in that unfair decision were punished appropriately. I sent out search parties to look for the child immediately.”

“Please tell me you found him, Hokage-sama,” Kakashi pleaded, voice cracking in his despair. He couldn’t lose his last hope, no matter what. “Please tell me that Naruto’s safe.”

“I’m sorry, Kakashi-kun,” Hiruzen’s voice had a mix of guilt, sorrow and anger. “I’m afraid that Naruto-kun is missing. He isn’t anywhere to be found in the village.”

Kakashi _broke._

* * *

Six weeks, five days, eight hours.

That was approximately how long Naruto had been missing.

Five weeks, three days, thirteen hours.

That was approximately how long Kakashi had been searching for him. Every team that had been sent out in a bid to find the missing Jinchuuriki had returned with empty hands. There hadn’t even been sightings of the boy _anywhere_.

It was like Naruto had simply vanished.

But Kakashi didn’t stop, even after many others had lost hope in finding the boy. He needed to find Naruto, no matter what it took. Days, weeks, months…nothing mattered when it came to his goal.

His nightmares became crueler, now featuring a little boy with lifeless blue eyes.

Kakashi didn’t sleep anymore.

He was still sent out on missions, the advisors unwilling to give up one of their best shinobi, even if it was for the sake of their Jinchuuriki.

But he didn’t care; he took it as an opportunity to search for Naruto.

Time was wearing him down though, limbs weakened from the lack of proper sustenance and sufficient rest. His chakra reserves were always bordering on empty and he returned from missions soaked in his own blood.

His heart was empty.

He knew he was losing himself; every second that passed brought him one step closer to death. Even if he didn’t stop searching for Naruto, despair was beginning to overwhelm him.

He knew…one day he wouldn’t come back.

“Kakashi! Wait!”

Gai’s voice echoed down the street but Kakashi didn’t stop, dragging himself to the gates. He had another mission, plus his quest to find his sensei’s son.

“Please, Kakashi! You need to rest!”

Despite his exhaustion, the Hatake swiftly side-stepped the hand that shot out to grab his arm. No one would be able to deter him from his path, not until Naruto was safe and sound.

He heard Gai keeping pace with him, still begging him to stop and rest for a while.

But how could he?

How could he sleep when the ghosts of his past haunted him?

How could he sleep when _Naruto was likely to be somewhere, completely terrified with no one to help him_?!

With one last shrug, Kakashi shook off the Jounin and ran out the gates, leaving Gai to stand there with a worried and dejected expression on his face.

There would be no stopping Hatake Kakashi from combing every inch of the earth until Uzumaki Naruto was safe.

* * *

Blades clashed, the rough movements creating sparks that temporarily lit up the night. Kakashi disengaged, tanto in one hand as he pulled out a kunai to throw at the nukenin in front of him. The other man dodged, a sneer on his face but the ANBU didn’t care. The explosion tag went off a second later, blowing off the nukenin’s head.

Spitting out blood, the fluid staining his cloth mask -his ANBU mask had broken long ago-, Kakashi whirled around, blocking an incoming katana with his arm. The blade sliced through his battered armguard, almost taking his hand off. As it was, there was still a deep gouge that leaked blood. One more to add to the other bleeding injuries on his body.

 _‘Ten more,’_ Kakashi thought, gritting his teeth as a wave of pain brought him down on one knee. His mission was to take out a group of nukenin on the borders of Hi no Kuni. Intelligence had said that there were about thirty-five to forty in the group, all ranging from Chuunin to Jounin.

Normally, such a mission would have been assigned to an entire team of ANBU. But Kakashi had demanded it for himself, seeing that it would take him to a part of the country that he hadn’t searched yet. It would have even been easy, if he had been at full strength.

But he wasn’t.

Kakashi knew his chakra reserves were almost empty and he was losing blood too fast.

And there were ten hostiles left.

Forcing his left eye open, Kakashi used his Sharingan to cast a genjutsu on two of the nukenin on his left, leaping forward to cut their throats once the technique took hold.

Eight left.

“You bastard!” one of the men yelled, charging at the ANBU with his sword raised. Kakashi managed to deflect it, but at the cost of his tanto. He cursed as the blade shattered but not one to waste his resources, used the jagged end and stabbed the man’s heart.

His last kunai took down one nukenin and another fell to a Chidori. But that was all Kakashi could manage.

Black edged his vision as he collapsed, exhaustion and blood loss finally taking their toll on him. Panting as blood streamed into his eyes, Kakashi stared up at the starry sky one last time before he let his eyes flutter closed, aware that it was the end for him.

_‘I’m sorry, Naruto. I failed you as well.’_

The five remaining nukenin would definitely make his death painful but what would it matter, compared to the bleeding and gaping wounds in his heart?

Kakashi laid on the surprisingly soft forest floor, waiting for death to take him in its cold clutches.

But it never came.

The sounds of battle echoed around him, surprising him faintly. He was certain that no back-ups would have been sent and it was unlikely that a Konoha team had been nearby. So who were the nukenin fighting?

Bursts of heat told Kakashi that there were Katon jutsu being thrown around, belonging to whoever had intervened since none of the nukenin had shown an affinity for Katon, instead using Suiton and Doton.

The battle was over almost embarrassingly fast, the unpleasant smell of burnt flesh permeating the air, along with the scent of blood.

 _‘At least my mission is complete,’_ Kakashi mused distantly, a strangely familiar voice echoing in his ears as he let the darkness take him.

“I take my eyes off you for one minute and you try to kill yourself? Oi, Bakashi!”

* * *

Soft.

He was lying on something soft.

What?

Training kicked in immediately and Kakashi forced his muscles to relax, not that he could do much. He hurt all over, like he had been stabbed with kunai and then had had acid poured into the wounds.

Well, pain was a good thing. He was still alive.

He feigned sleep, assessing the situation as much as he could. There were no restraints or anything of the sort, just a soft woolen blanket covering his body. Sensing no one around, Kakashi risked opening his eyes. Or just _an_ eye, since there was a bandage covering his Sharingan.

A wooden ceiling greeted him and Kakashi squinted a little at the light bombarding his senses. It was sunlight, so there was probably a window behind him.

Good, an escape route if necessary.

The next step was to assess his physical state; he was still extremely weak and there were bandages covering his torso and arms. If he were to lift the blanket, he was sure that his legs would be wrapped too.

Confusion was the strongest emotion Kakashi felt at that moment. He was not in Konoha; he would have woken in the hospital if that had been the case. So whoever his mysterious rescuer was, had taken him to their abode.

Kakashi wanted to look around but his body didn’t want to cooperate, so he settled for turning his head only.

And was instantly met with the sight of the boy he had been searching for.

“N-Naru..to…?”

The blond’s head snapped up at the call of his name and brilliant blue eyes met a wide grey one. “Yay! You woke up!” Naruto cheered, dropping his crayons in favor of running up to the bedridden teen. “You know me, like Nee-san said!”

Kakashi was frozen; here was the little boy he had sought for weeks, looking happier than Kakashi had ever seen him in Konoha. Was it possible that whoever had taken him had done it with good intentions? And who was this ‘Nee-san’?

But all of that was inconsequential in the face of verifying that what he was seeing wasn’t a dream. Kakashi struggled to lift himself, propping his torso up on an elbow as he stretched one shaking hand towards the toddler.

Naruto happily grabbed the hand with both of his tiny ones, walking closer to the bed before climbing up on it. “Nice to meet you, Kashi-nii!” he said, wrapping his arms around the teen in a hug.

“You know me?” Kakashi croaked, unconsciously returning the hug with one arm. That wasn’t possible; he had never initiated contact with the boy.

Not even once.

Naruto shouldn’t even know his _name_.

“Yeah! Daddy told me!” Naruto drew back, face still set in a beaming smile. “You were his…stu…student!”

What?

Before Kakashi could even begin to process that statement, Naruto gasped and wriggled out of his grip. He jumped off the bed, running out the room, shouting, “Daddy! Daddy!”

The teen stared blankly in the direction that the toddler had gone, slumped against the wall. He had only ever been one person’s student and that person was dead.

But it was well-known that Kakashi was the Yellow Flash’s student and there was still the possibility that someone was deceiving the toddler. With that thought in mind, Kakashi steeled himself for whoever was going to walk in through that door.

All of his determination didn’t matter when he saw the man, the newcomer’s face set in a worried frown.

* * *

“Kakashi, you shouldn’t be up yet!” Minato fretted, hurrying over to the teen. However, he didn’t force the teen to lie back down, aware of his stubbornness. He instead checked the bandages, in case he had opened any of his numerous injuries. Hikari was a decent medic but there was only so much she could do at her current level.

To his surprise, Minato met no resistance as he looked over his former student.

Kakashi was too stunned to react or protest when very familiar hands gently took hold of his shoulders, simply letting the blond man do whatever he wanted. It wasn’t until a hand ruffled his hair that he snapped out of his shock, flinching violently.

“W-Who are you?! Sensei died years ago!”

Minato reared back when the Hatake snarled, slightly hurt at the aggression before understanding washed over him. He settled on his haunches, a few feet away from the boy in order to give him some space. “He did,” Minato agreed quietly, blue eyes sad as he looked at the counterpart of his former student. “I’m not the Minato you knew.”

“Wha-?”

“Sensei, is Kakashi really awake? Naruto was yelling about it.”

The Namikaze had to resist the urge to smack himself when he saw the Hatake’s expression shutter and become blank. He was beginning to regret facing Kakashi first; the poor teen was going to break down at the rate he was going.

Obito strode into the room and stood behind Minato, arms crossed as he glared down at the bedridden counterpart of his teammate. He did _not_ like having to carry the bloody - _literally bloody­­_ \- suicidal idiot’s body around in a panic.

“Is this your way of interrogating me?” Kakashi spoke in a monotone, fists clenched in the blanket as he refused to meet either of the men’s gazes.

“What are you talking about?”

“Obito and Minato-sensei are _dead_ ,” came the dull reply. “Just drop the Henge or Genjutsu or whatever, and get on with the program.”

The Uchiha raised an eyebrow at the statement but it wasn’t entirely unexpected. They hadn’t expected the Hatake to simply accept them as they were. But it was also glaringly obvious that neither he nor Minato knew how to proceed.

A sharp clap startled all three men and they looked to the source; a girl with long crimson hair was standing at the door, Naruto peeking out from behind her worriedly.

“Alright,” Hikari said, voice stern and even. “Dad, Obito, out. I’ll handle this.”

Minato and Obito exchanged glances, the Namikaze nodding in resignation as he left the room, picking up Naruto on the way. Obito hesitated for a second but agreed, squeezing Kakashi’s shoulder once before leaving the room with a whispered, “Glad to see you alive, idiot.”

Hikari didn’t close the door, not wanting to make the Hatake feel trapped. She sat down in the spot Minato had vacated, offering Kakashi a smile. “My name is Namikaze Hikari. You can call me Hikari.”

Her name was a point of pride for her; she had once gone by Uzumaki and though she actually looked the part now, having her father’s name made her feel warm. Hikari loved her mother but she knew her father better than she did Kushina and she felt honored to carry the Namikaze name.

Nevertheless, that wasn’t the point and the blank expression Kakashi gave her was expected. No doubt he was thinking that she was trying to fool him.

“I know you have a lot of questions,” Hikari said, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “Go ahead and ask. You can uncover your Sharingan to check my words if you want; you’re healed enough to use it.”

“Isn’t the interrogator supposed to ask the questions?” Kakashi retorted suspiciously, nevertheless reaching up to tug the bandage over his eye loose.

A single deep breath. “Were you the ones who took Naruto from Konoha?”

“Yep.”

“Why?”

“One, Naruto is family,” the redhead replied easily, ticking it off on her fingers. She looked unfairly amused at his choice of questions. “Two, do you really trust the villagers to take care of him? I mean, we found him in the _Red Light District_ , of all places.”

That utterly deadpan statement sucked all the air out from Kakashi’s lungs, leaving him still as a stone. He didn’t detect a single lie and if he had been in their place, he would have kidnapped Naruto too.

Not that he believed what she was saying yet.

But still…

“Alright,” the Hatake forced himself to breathe, fists clenching and unclenching as he tried to word his next question. “Those two…are they really Minato-sensei and Obito?”

Hikari stared at him with sharp eyes, eerily similar to the Yondaime Hokage’s own eyes. She seemed to be looking for something in his expression and despite his best attempt to keep himself neutral, her smile a few seconds later told him that she had found what she had wanted.

“Yes and no,” was the solemn reply. Hiding the truth from Kakashi, of all people, had never been on the table, not if they wanted to help him. “Dad, Obito and I are real, but from a different world.”

Kakashi wanted to scoff at that ridiculous answer and demand the facts, but the Sharingan told him that she was telling the truth. None of the usual signs of deceit were present on her features or in her body language.

“That’s…not possible.”

Hikari simply shrugged. “Perhaps not under normal circumstances,” she agreed. Despite all the brainstorming sessions Minato, Obito and she had done, none of them were able to accurately tell how and why they had landed in a new dimension, even if they had deduced various possibilities. “We didn’t ask to come here, nor did we believe it was possible ourselves. But after everything we’ve been through, this is actually the best outcome for us.”

“What do you mean?”

The next thirty minutes were spent filling in Kakashi, from the truth behind her existence till the war against Kaguya. By the end of it, the teen was blank-faced once again, not quite able to process it all yet.

“Take your time,” Hikari said sympathetically, patting his knee in a gesture of comfort. Rising to her feet, she gave one last glance over him, satisfied on seeing that none of his wounds had reopened. “Someone will come by with food later. Rest until then, okay?”

* * *

“How is he doing?”

Minato perked up the instant his daughter stepped out of the room they had put Kakashi in, expression questioning but tinged with guilt. They had known right from the start that the Hatake would not have reacted well to Naruto’s disappearance but they hadn’t wanted to risk revealing themselves to anyone else just yet.

That didn’t mean none of them _hadn’t_ kept an eye on the last member of their family. All three of them, Minato, Obito and Hikari, had taken turns to shadow Kakashi, waiting for a chance to approach him, waiting for him to calm down enough to listen to them.

Big mistake.

It had been a stroke of pure luck that Obito had noticed that Kakashi had left Konoha immediately after his previous mission. The Uchiha had followed his tracks, happening upon him just seconds before he had been killed at the hands of the nukenin. After finishing off the nukenin, Obito had grabbed Kakashi and instantly teleported them into their temporary house using Kamui, startling Minato and Hikari.

For one heart-stopping moment, the pair had frozen, too stunned by the amount of blood coating the ANBU and soaking into Obito’s clothes. Then they had sprung into action, thankful that Naruto had been down for a nap and didn’t have to see the traumatizing sight.

It had been touch-and-go for almost an hour, Hikari taxing her Yin-Yang Release to heal as much as she could. Kakashi’s blood levels had dropped to dangerous levels, his chakra reserves drained and body extremely malnourished. Inexperienced as she was, Hikari had been barely able to stabilize him.

As if able to tell what Minato was thinking, the redhead shook her head with a small smile. “He’s healing,” she reported, dropping into the chair next to her father with a tired sigh. Hikari leant her head on the man’s shoulder, almost melting when he ran a hand through her hair. “Physically, Kakashi will be fine, but mentally? I have no clue.”

“I see…,” Minato paused, raising his head to glance in the direction of Kakashi’s room. “Did he believe you? About who we are.”

“Pretty sure he did. Whether he accepts it or not is a different matter.”

That was understandable.

Kakashi wasn’t like Naruto; the latter was essentially a blank slate and didn’t know any of them, which made it easy for him to adjust. But that was not the case for the former. Kakashi had known his Minato and Obito for years; even if they were dimensional counterparts, it still wasn’t the same.

“I think he will, if only for Naruto,” Obito spoke, entering the room with two bowls of steaming soup in his hands. He thrust one in Hikari’s face, rolling his eyes when the girl squawked in indignation. “Eat, brat; you used up a lot of energy healing Kakashi.”

“You know that I have a ton of stamina, right?” Hikari reluctantly accepted the food, still sending the Uchiha an impressive glare. “I did way more during the war.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. You still missed lunch, so _eat_ before I pour it down your throat myself.”

“Fine!” the redhead cried out in exasperation, making Minato laugh at her. “Sheesh, Obito, you’re such a mother-hen.”

The Uchiha scoffed at the comment, taking the other bowl and disappearing into Kakashi’s room. The blond Namikaze watched him go, a worried light in his eyes. “Is it fine for them to face each other?”

Hikari hummed, swallowing a spoonful of soup. “I think so. Obito knows what buttons to push and Kakashi would respond to Obito better than either of us right now.”

* * *

Obito watched the counterpart of his friend, expression blank with no hint of emotion. Kakashi was staring at the wall in front of him, eyes unseeing. He was clearly lost in his own head.

Deciding not to let him wallow for any longer, the Uchiha strode forth and sat on the bed, crossing one leg over the other. “Here,” he said brusquely, holding out the bowl of soup.

Kakashi slowly turned his head to face the other teen. After a few seconds of staring, his gaze dropped to the bowl of soup. It had taken some time to process what the girl, Hikari, had told him but he knew that she wasn’t lying. He could trust that they wouldn’t poison him; he took the bowl, dipping his head in silent thanks before taking small sips of the liquid.

While he was eating, Kakashi snuck furtive glances at the seemingly nonchalant Uchiha next to him. Obito, -even if he was from a different world, he was still Obito- had scars covering the right side of his face, matching the injuries he would have gotten during his last mission. Hikari had told him how Obito had survived, so Kakashi didn’t continue down that line of thought.

The Uchiha, although he was supposed to be thirty-three, looked eighteen, barely older than Kakashi himself. Kakashi had tons of questions but there were only two main ones.

How did this world’s Obito die?

Would the Obito in front of his eyes be friends with Kakashi?

“Stop thinking,” the object of his thoughts spoke up suddenly, scowling at the Hatake rather fiercely. “I can almost hear it.”

“…sorry.”

“You’re just as much as an idiot as your counterpart was,” Obito continued speaking, holding eye contact with the silver-haired teen. “I’ll tell you what I told him: I’m not mad at you.”

“But Rin-”

“She made her own choice,” Obito interrupted the Hatake’s protest, glaring when it seemed like that the latter was about to speak. “True, I was angry once but that’s in the past. As I am now, I’ve accepted that and moved on.”

Kakashi didn’t question the last statement. Part of Hikari’s briefing had included what Obito had done in his rage-induced state and what he had later done to make up for it. Well aware of his own coping mechanisms, he thought it was amazing that Obito was even functioning.

Choosing to dwell on something else, Kakashi asked quietly, “It was you who saved me, right?”

“Yeah, and I do _not_ want to do that again, so don’t you dare attempt another suicidal stunt. I will burn you to ash myself, if that’s what you want.”

Really, Obito didn’t want to go through that experience ever again; even once had been one time too much. The memory of blood soaking into his clothes as he felt Kakashi’s heartbeat slow down was eerily similar to what had happened in another war torn world. It was a miracle that Obito hadn’t had a meltdown and instead had managed to keep it together long enough to get help.

“You shouldn’t have to concern yourself with me. I’m not your Kakashi.”

“If you were in my place, would you abandon me?”

The silence was telling.

“Thought so,” Obito concluded, raising an eyebrow at the Hatake. “We already have a ‘Naruto’ but we still saved the blond midget. Why shouldn’t we do the same for you?”

“I…”

Obito sighed and stood up, taking the empty bowl from where it had been lying forgotten on the bed. “Look, we’re not going to make you do anything you don’t want to. If you want to forget all of this, go ahead. Just make your own choice.”

The words were stuck in his throat and Kakashi swallowed harshly, staring at the other’s back. He catalogued all the changes he could see between the awkward Obito in his memories and the self-assured man in his sight. It wasn’t hard to see them as different people, but there was still a longing in his heart.

Left alone to his own thoughts, Kakashi could finally admit it.

He believed Hikari.

He believed that Minato-sensei and Obito were alive, in the next room. Even if they were not the same people he had known, they were still important to him.

How could he go back now, knowing that a version of his most precious people were out there?

* * *

Hours after Obito’s little conversation with Kakashi, Minato poked his head inside the room. The teen was lying down, back to the door in an unexpected show of trust. Smiling softly, the man walked closer and perched on the edge of the bed.

“I know you’re awake, Kakashi,” he said quietly. Kakashi shifted, turning to lay on his back to lock gazes with familiar blue eyes. “How are you feeling? Do you need me to get Hikari?”

Kakashi shook his head, still staring at Minato intently.

“You look exactly the same,” he whispered after a while, in response to the Namikaze’s patient and questioning smile. “You act the same way too.”

Minato scratched his cheek lightly, not quite sure how to reply to that. “From what little I know, we had pretty much the same experiences? So I don’t think I’ll be any different. But you-”

“-don’t have to see you as the same person,” Kakashi finished, looking downcast. “Your daughter said that.”

“Ah. I suppose she’s the biggest difference though?”

“Hmm. It’s easier to look at her; she resembles Kushina-nee a little but she’s still unknown to me.”

There was silence, the silver-haired teen not protesting when Minato hesitantly ran a hand through his hair. Instead, Kakashi leaned into the touch; it wasn’t something he would have allowed _before_ , but it had been so long since he had had any positive physical contact and he craved it.

“Can I stay?” Kakashi blurted out before he could stop himself. He winced, sneaking a glance at the man next to him. The blond’s expression spoke of shock, mouth parted slightly and eyes wide. “I just…” he rushed to explain, sitting up even though his muscles twinged in pain, “There’s nothing left in Konoha for me anymore.”

Minato blinked, parsing that statement. “What about your friends?”

Gai, Asuma, Kurenai, Genma, Raido, Tenzo and even Anko were friends of a sort but Kakashi, for all that he cared about them, wouldn’t regret leaving them behind.

“They’ll be fine.”

Minutes ticked by, Kakashi shrinking back when the man - _Minato-sensei_ \- didn’t reply. He was about to take his words back when an arm snaked around his back, tucking him against the older man’s side.

“Of course you can stay,” Minato said cheerfully, squeezing the Hatake’s arm lightly in a gesture of comfort. There had been no question of abandoning the last member of their family, _ever_.

It had just been surprising for Kakashi to outright ask for it before they could offer.

“We were actually going to ask you that,” he explained. “It’s not like we’re leaving Konoha forever. We’ll pop in once in a while to check on the village; Hiraishin and Kamui are very useful for that purpose. Once Naruto’s grown up a little, we’ll head back. So you’ll see your friends again.”

Oh.

 _Oh_.

That was nice.

“…okay.”

This time, Minato pulled Kakashi into a proper hug, not saying a word when he felt something damp against his shoulder. “Honestly, I wanted to take you with us when we came for Naruto,” he said, absently patting the teen on the back. “But you weren’t there and when we found you afterwards…”

Both of them winced at the reminder of Kakashi’s state during the past few weeks.

Kakashi knew he had gone overboard, not taking of himself at all and throwing himself into extremely dangerous missions. He had had no concern for himself, only focused on finding even a tiny clue on Naruto’s whereabouts. “I probably wouldn’t have believed you before.”

“Nevertheless, we should never have waited so long,” Minato said firmly, refusing to think about what could have happened if Obito had not felt something off. “I’m sorry, Kakashi.”

There was no reply to that but Minato didn’t need one, the slight tightening of the boy’s arms around his torse answer enough.

The pair sat like that for what felt like ages, one seeking comfort and the other offering it freely. Only when a delicious smell wafted in through the open door, did they stir. Minato stood up, stretching his arms over his head before extending a hand to the teen.

“Think you can join us at the table this time?”

Kakashi considered the question, taking note of his aching limbs and the stiffness, but no true pain. He nodded, letting Minato pull him onto his feet. For a moment, he swayed to the side and almost fell on the floor. Only the blond’s quick actions prevented that.

“Come on, you can lean on me,” Minato suggested, when he noticed that Kakashi hadn’t paled or lost consciousness and was probably only unsteady on his feet.

When they made their way out of the room, they saw that Obito was already at the table, entertaining Naruto. Or, Naruto was happily chattering away at him and he was humming in acknowledgement once in a while.

Hikari was the one who noticed them first, greeting with a warm smile as she emerged from the kitchen with a stack of plates in her hands. “Hey, Dad, Kakashi-nii. Take a seat; food’s almost ready.”

Kakashi’s expression turned stunned at the honorific she had attached to his name. Minato and Obito both snorted in amusement, the former settling the Hatake in a chair before he fell over. Naruto noticed his father and perked up, running around the table to clamber up onto the man’s lap.

“Daddy!”

“Hey, Naruto; did you have a good time with Obito?”

“Yeah! He showed cool jutsu!”

“Is that so?” Minato smiled, unable to resist that beaming face. He would never regret claiming the toddler as his own, aware that if their positions had been reversed and his daughter had been the one displaced, he would have wanted his counterpart to take care of her. “Obito-nii is amazing, isn’t he?”

“Yes!”

That was when Naruto noticed Kakashi and brightened even further, almost throwing himself at the startled teen. Only Minato’s arms around him stopped him from doing so.

“Kashi-nii!”

Minato chuckled, keeping a tight grip on the hyperactive three-year-old. “I’m sure you’re happy to see him but he’s a little hurt, so you have to be gentle, okay?”

“’Kay…”

Now a little more subdued and no longer trying to jump off, Naruto wriggled in his father’s grasp until he was facing the Hatake and held out a hand, which Kakashi automatically took. “Kashi-nii owie?”

Kakashi swallowed, staring into the innocent eyes of the child. He would never understand how the villagers had directed all their hatred at him. “..it’s better. Your sister is very good at healing.”

“Hikari-nee is super amazing!”

“Oh?” the redhead emerged from the kitchen at that exact moment, a wide grin stretching her mouth. “I think Naruto is amazing too; did you show Kashi-nii your drawing?”

“Uh oh. Daddy, down!”

Naruto shot off into one of the rooms as soon as Minato set him on the floor, causing him to cast an inquisitive look in his daughter’s direction. Hikari’s smile widened but she didn’t elaborate, setting the food on the table. She brushed a hand over Kakashi’s shoulder as she passed him, sending some healing chakra into him.

The teen almost went boneless with relief, the lingering ache vanishing instantly. Kakashi sent her a grateful look which Hikari winked at, a finger pressed to her lips, promising her silence -that she wouldn’t tell Minato and Obito that Kakashi had actually been experiencing some pain.

Not willing to meet anyone’s eyes just yet, Kakashi stared down at the table, only to rear back in shock once again. There was a spread of all his favorite dishes, even the ones that he indulged in occasionally as comfort food. Tears pricked at his eyes and he rapidly blinked them back, not wanting to have a meltdown.

After so long with little to no kind gestures, or ones that he would accept, a simple thing such as someone making his favorite food was enough to floor him.

Thankfully, Kakashi was provided with a distraction in the form of Naruto, who ran towards him while waving a sheet of paper in the air.

“Here!”

Naruto thrust the paper at Kakashi, who took it in order to not upset the boy. A closer glance at the paper had his eyes widening, the Sharingan burning the image into his memory.

It was a childish drawing of five figures, each one distinguishable by their height and hair color. The two blonds were clearly Minato and Naruto himself, the redhead was Hikari and the black-haired figure was Obito.

What Kakashi didn’t expect was the inclusion of _himself_.

For portrayed in the drawing clearly, with a mess of silver hair and a black mask covering most of the figure’s face, was Naruto’s rendition of Kakashi.

When Kakashi didn’t move for a while, Minato peered over the teen’s shoulder at the drawing, chuckling in amusement and fondness when he realized what he was looking at. Judging by Hikari’s grin and Obito’s smirk, those two had known about it right from the start.

“Kashi-nii not like it?”

Naruto’s expression slowly transitioned to worry when Kakashi didn’t reply for a long time and was about to tear up when a hand gently ruffled his hair. The Hatake looked at the boy with gratitude and growing happiness, wondering what he had done to deserve it.

“Thank you, Naruto,” Kakashi spoke softly, holding the drawing as though it was something extremely precious. “I love it.”

Looking around and seeing only smiles, he leant back in his chair, finally allowing the burden he had carried for years to fall from his shoulders.

For the first time in years, he was truly happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case someone didn't notice the updated summary, I've decided to listen to my readers' requests and turn Overtwisted into a story of its own.
> 
> All outtakes and prompts are moved to a new story in the Twisting Reality series: Tangents and Parallels.
> 
> Posted: 19/11/2020


	4. A family outing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just some fluff. (Mostly.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is mostly a filler chapter. Didn't want to rush the story, so have some fluff!
> 
> The first part of this chapter is for [Sheila and Kitsune72](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26435134/comments/360545014).
> 
> _“Jinchuuriki talking in mindscape”_  
>  ** _“Bijuu talking in mindscape”_**  
>  ** _'Bijuu's thoughts'_**  
>  “Normal speech”  
>  _‘Thoughts’_

Minato pulled the covers over Hikari and Naruto’s shoulders, smiling at the sight of his two children curled up around each other. It was something that never failed to warm his heart; his death soon after his daughter was born meant that he never had the chance to raise her and being reunited on a battlefield wasn’t ideal for familial bonding.

But now he had the chance.

Naruto eagerly welcomed all forms of affection, his childish innocence the lone light in the otherwise somber family. (Fighting a losing war for years didn’t improve the psyche.) And Hikari, though she was an adult in a child’s body, reciprocated a hug almost as enthusiastically as the toddler, having been starved of positive contact in her younger years.

Sensing that his thoughts were going down a dark path, Minato got up. He checked that the kids were sleeping soundly before leaving the room, shutting the door quietly and heading towards the other bedroom in their temporary house.

Kakashi and Obito looked up when Minato entered the room, staring at the dark expression on the man’s face. The teens exchanged confused glances, Obito shrugging when Kakashi leveled a questioning look at him. It wasn’t like the Uchiha knew everything that could set off their former teacher.

“Sensei?”

“Kakashi, do you know what Konoha did to Naruto?”

The abrupt but sharp question startled him but the Hatake took it in stride. Although the memories weren’t good, he was more than happy to tattle on the Konoha villagers. He had never been able to take revenge for Naruto’s treatment and he was wondering what Minato would do.

“I knew that he wasn’t treated well,” Kakashi started, looking down in shame at his own negligence. He would do better now, though. “But after he disappeared, I did some digging around. Mainly to find out why no one had noticed that Naruto had been missing for over a week.”

“And?”

“It’s not good, Minato-sensei,” he said quietly when Minato shot him an impatient look. Even in his distraught state, Kakashi had been appalled by the callousness of the villagers. “They would leave him out for hours at night, sometimes not letting him inside until dawn. They never hit him but the neglect and verbal abuse was so bad, the other children picked it up and thought it was fine for them to treat him the same way.”

Minato closed his eyes tightly, taking a deep breath to calm himself. “Anything else?”

“They threw him out of the orphanage before the Kyuubi Festival.”

When Minato and Obito appeared confused about the significance of the festival, Kakashi gulped, hoping that they wouldn’t stab the messenger. “You know how the Kyuubi destroyed a part of Konoha? The villagers celebrate the defeat but they also hold a lot of hatred and anger towards the Bijuu. Since they know that Naruto is the Jinchuuriki…”

The pieces clicked, and Obito stated flatly, “They take it out on him.”

“Yes. The first two years, he was too young to leave the orphanage but he was also left unattended. A few drunks tried to hurt him…I was watching over him then so I caught them before they could. This year, though…”

Minato waved a hand, cutting Kakashi off. The blond’s face was blank in a terrifying way, reminiscent of how he looked before beheading an enemy. “I’m not blaming you; we know that you were on a mission. But the villagers…they have no excuse.”

He exchanged a significant look with Obito, the Uchiha having a dark glint in his eyes as he nodded, rising to his feet and striding out of the room. Minato looked back at Kakashi, a cheerful smile on his face, which was a complete opposite to the glacier in his eyes. “Stay here and look after the kids, Kakashi. Obito and I are going to…do a few errands.”

A Hiraishin kunai was pressed into his hand, Minato giving him a half-hug and telling him to call if the teen needed anything.

Kakashi nodded slowly, having an inkling about what those ‘errands’ were.

“Okay.”

* * *

“So, what are we going to do?”

Obito squinted down at the near silent village, anger hidden behind a cold, expressionless mask. Despite what he had done while influenced by Black Zetsu and Madara, he had been granted full forgiveness from the girl who had every reason to despise him and curse his existence. For that alone, she had his complete loyalty.

And even if it was hypocritical of him, he hated the people who had made her childhood a living hell.

“Hikari would never tell me everything,” Minato said, avoiding answering the question from his student. His blue eyes were icy, fixed on the single light in the Hokage Tower. “Her resigned reaction to Naruto’s situation was enough to let me know that she had probably had it worse.”

And he knew who exactly to blame. If Hiruzen had kept a tighter leash on Danzo, the war hawk would never have released confidential information to the villagers. One day, Minato was going to slit that disgusting Shimura’s throat.

Kakashi’s information had not helped. Naruto’s life could have been snuffed out before he even had a chance to live it, and merely imagining cruel fingers tightening around that fragile neck had his blood boiling.

Hikari had most likely experienced worser situations. As a girl, there was always the possibility of a greater suffering; not that Naruto also didn’t have it but girls were usually easier targets in the Red Light District. Konoha’s only saving grace was that his daughter had remained untouched in that sense, even if she had been victim to a number of beatings.

“I want to burn the village down,” Minato admitted darkly. His fists were clenched, to stop himself from flickering through handsigns for a Katon jutsu and torching the place. “I want them to feel at least a tiny fraction of the pain my children went through.

“But?”

But Hikari wouldn’t like it and it was not like the entire village was rotten.

“But we’re not going to.”

Minato smiled faintly, something sharp and broken in the curve of his lips. He wasn’t quite okay, after all. Seeing his family suffering under the harsh and unfair realities of the world at such young ages had shattered something in him.

“So let’s torch something. That’s what we came for anyway,” Obito grunted, chakra flaring in anticipation. He cocked his head to one side, considering their options. “Not the Hokage Tower. While I know that none of these guys can hold a candle to us, we don’t need idiots on our tail. But…”

His dark eyes took on an unholy gleam, shining in the moonlight before red bled into black, three tomoe swirling. “The Red Light District is fair game.”

“Quite,” the Namikaze agreed, applying a Henge on himself to hide his distinctive features. His blond hair turned midnight black, with the faintest hint of blue. The strands smoothened out, the spikiness disappearing and a fringe covered part of his face. His eyes were now grassy green.

Obito snorted at the new appearance Minato sported but understood the value of a disguise. There was probably no one in Konoha who would recognize him, thanks to his scars and the fact that he was believed deceased. Nevertheless, he hid his scars and colored both his hair and eyes brown.

Nodding at each other, the two pulled up their hoods and disappeared soundlessly.

Hiruzen sighed, rubbing his temples in an attempt to stave off the incoming headache. First Naruto had disappeared and now Kakashi was missing. The teen had taken on a dangerous mission by himself, without regard for his own life. The old Hokage was regretting having allowed the boy to go.

When Kakashi had not returned even two days after the allocated time, trackers had been sent out. They had returned with grim expressions, holding out the broken shards of the Hatake’s ANBU mask and the shattered remains of his tanto. The captain told Hiruzen that they had not found a body, but there had been a lot of dried blood belonging to the teen in the grass, so much that it was more than likely that Kakashi was dead.

Before he could continue wallowing in his regret and grief, an explosion shattered the silence of the night and Hiruzen shot out of his chair in alarm. He turned to look out the window, eyes widening at the blaze on the other side of the village.

He flicked his hand, his ANBU guards taking up position around him as Hiruzen leapt out the window. _‘That’s the Red Light District,’_ he thought with a worried frown, increasing his pace when he noticed that the fire was growing. Arriving at his destination in a matter of seconds, he took in the situation before him.

Many of the buildings had been entirely engulfed by the flames, faster than expected. People were screaming and running around in a panic, the Police Force and the available shinobi rescuing stragglers and taking them to safety. A few were using Suiton jutsu to douse the flames, but it didn’t seem to be doing much good.

“Report!” Hiruzen barked at one of the nearby shinobi, frowning heavily. “What caused the fire?”

A man, looking to be a Jounin considering his flak jacket, straightened and saluted his leader. “Hokage-sama!” the soot-covered man said. “The explosion that started the fire occurred in that building,” he pointed to a building that was beginning to crumble. “We have reason to believe it wasn’t an accident.”

“How so?”

“There are traces of chakra in the fire, Hokage-sama. A sensor has verified that it is not one of our own.”

“An attacker?”

Someone started shouting, attracting the conversing pair’s attention. “Hey, you two! Get down from there; it’s dangerous!”

Hiruzen followed the gaze of the yelling shinobi, spotting two cloaked figures atop the roof of an untouched building. Even as he watched, one of them flickered through handsigns, breathing out a stream of fire and feeding the growing blaze.

Eyes narrowing in anger, Hiruzen performed a jutsu of his own, sending a powerful streak of lightning at the pair. They dodged it effortlessly, leaping into the air. Taking advantage of their airborne state, kunai and shuriken were thrown at them, but the taller of the pair, not the one who had used the Katon jutsu, swung his arm in a slashing motion, causing a gust of wind that blew the projectiles away.

“Who are you and why do you attack Konoha?” Hiruzen demanded when the strangers landed in front of him, instantly knowing that they were dangerous. Despite having over twenty shinobi surrounding them, plus members of the Uchiha Police Force and the _Hokage_ in front of them, the two appeared unconcerned.

Their hoods had fallen off, revealing two unfamiliar faces. The taller man, with cold green eyes, glared at Hiruzen, crossing his arms over his chest. “Taking out some trash,” he responded casually, but the Sarutobi could hear the anger in the other’s voice.

“Is harming people necessary for that purpose?”

A snort came from the brunet, who raised a judgmental eyebrow. “I think your eyes are going bad, old man. Look closer; hardly anyone is hurt.”

Much to everyone’s shock, it was the truth. A quick glance around them told Hiruzen that apart from a few mild burns, there were no injuries. One of the Uchiha confirmed the statement, saying that though quite a few buildings were damaged, there had experienced zero casualties.

Now rather confused, Hiruzen questioned, “Then what was the purpose of this attack?”

There was no reply, the dark-haired stranger looking around instead of focusing on the Hokage. The brunet had moved closer to his companion, guarding his back. It seemed like the taller man was the leader.

“…a warning and a little bit of catharsis.”

Hiruzen’s brow furrowed. “What?”

“I do not need to answer you,” the green-eyed man snapped, his blank expression shattering to reveal a white-hot fury that would _incinerate_ everything and anything. Subconsciously, all of the gathered people took a step back, cowed by the rage flowing off of the man. “Why should I, when it is _you_ who have wronged _us_?”

That made no sense to Hiruzen but before he could demand an explanation, the man slashed the air again and a powerful blast of wind knocked everyone in the vicinity off of their feet. Even the inferno that had been raging around them was snuffed out, leaving behind charred buildings.

“Fortunately for you, we do not wish to punish everyone for the sins of others. Consider this a warning, and open your eyes to the sheer hypocrisy you practice.”

With that, the strange pair vanished from sight, with barely a flicker of chakra. If it weren’t for the multiple blackened and collapsed buildings around them, Hiruzen would have thought he had imagined the whole thing.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling the headache he had been fearing earlier come on with full force. Hiruzen looked around, watching his men pick themselves up and get back to containing the situation, now that the threat had disappeared.

What powerful being had Konoha offended now?

* * *

Kakashi blinked when Minato and Obito appeared in front of him. He had not been able to sleep, so he had grabbed a book that seemed interesting and had settled down in the living room. Honestly, he had not expected either of them to return until morning, but there they were, a little over an hour after they had left.

“Why do you stink of smoke?”

“Probably because they torched a few buildings.”

All three men startled at the sudden voice and their heads swiveled around to see Hikari leaning against the doorway. She was smiling at them tiredly, a hint of reproach in her eyes but nothing condemning.

“Eh…ah, Hikari…”

The redhead shook her head, slipping past the men and into the kitchen. Pouring herself a glass of water, she hopped onto the counter, eyeing her father and Obito critically.

“Did you kill anyone?”

“No,” Obito answered with a displeased expression, almost close to a pout. “We chose an abandoned building to start with.”

Setting fire to an empty and derelict building had given enough of a warning to the villagers, who at least had had the presence of mind to escape when they had noticed the growing fire. Minato knew he would lose all restrictions if someone insulted his children to his face but since they had been in Konoha only for catharsis, he hadn’t felt the need to grievously harm anyone.

But Hikari’s presence raised a question of his own.

“How did you know we had left?”

A raised eyebrow, speaking of clear judgement, was his response, as if Hikari was saying, _’are you seriously asking me that?’_

“…sensor. Right…sorry.”

“Hmm.”

Honestly speaking, Hikari was rather touched that her father went to such lengths to get revenge for her and Naruto, while still respecting her wishes to not harm anyone seriously. For that alone, she would let Minato and Obito off the hook.

Just this once.

“So,” she clapped her hands together, a mischievous spark making its way into her eyes. Even if she played the part of a responsible person some of the time, Hikari was still a prankster at heart. “Who did you spook?”

Minato let out a startled laugh, sinking into the couch next to Kakashi while Obito sat cross-legged on the table, a smirk on his face. “Apart from giving the Police and a bunch of shinobi heart attacks? I kind of yelled at the Sandaime.”

“Jiji came personally?”

“We did make it look like an attack at first glance,” Obito shrugged, biting into an apple he had grabbed from the fruit bowl. Throwing around Katon jutsu was his specialty and he would have burnt down a few more buildings if the Sandaime had not intervened.

“Do I want to know which part of the village went up in flames?”

“Eh, no one will miss that disgusting place.”

Blinking at the Uchiha’s dismissive words, Hikari thought back to possible places for targets and narrowed it down to three places. “The Hokage Tower…? No, you mentioned the Police, who would have not been there if it was the Tower…the orphanage is a no-go since I know you won’t hurt kids; that leaves…the Red Light District?”

When she got two smirks in response, Hikari deadpanned, “Seriously?”

“They should be grateful that we didn’t blow them up, _literally_.”

Hikari sighed, running a hand over her face. “I at least hope you disguised yourselves? Yes? Good. No need to have hunters on our trail.” She pointed a finger at her father, who held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “This better be the only time you two pull a stunt like this.”

“Of course.”

What Minato didn’t say was that when they officially returned to Konoha, the kid gloves would come off. There were quite a few people that he had a bone to pick with.

* * *

Once Kakashi had fully recovered and was fit to travel, the little family packed up and moved on, travelling to the next village. Accommodations weren’t really a problem, since Obito could use his Mokuton to build them a house. They had decided, though, that if they were in a village, they would stay in an inn to keep up the guise of travelers.

As for their appearances, Minato, Hikari, Naruto and Kakashi used a seal-based Henge to change their hair color to black, matching Obito. The distinctive whisker-marks on Naruto’s cheeks were also hidden and Kakashi switched to a plain bandana and mask. All in all, the group of five looked the part of a family traveling through the country.

The village they were currently in was quite a distance from Konoha and it was unlikely that they’d run into any Konoha shinobi. That was the only reason they relaxed, getting two rooms at the inn for a week.

“Hey, Dad?”

“Hmm?”

Hikari flopped onto one of the beds in the room she was sharing with Minato and Naruto, Kakashi and Obito sharing another. “Did you notice that the village seemed oddly busy?” she asked, voice slightly muffled since she had mushed her face into the quilt.

“I did,” Minato replied, handing Naruto a set of clean clothes and ushering him into the attached bathroom. The toddler was an easy child, rarely throwing tantrums and more than happy to listen to the adults. Minato wasn’t sure for how long the good behavior would continue, but recalling stories of his daughter’s younger years, he assumed that Naruto would probably become hyperactive soon enough.

“I think they’re preparing for a festival,” the Namikaze called absently, filling the tub with water. Naruto perked up, staring at the man with wide blue eyes.

“Fes..ti..val?”

Minato nodded. “Yes. It’s usually held for something special; there might be games and different types of food. Lots of people come to a festival, to enjoy themselves.”

Naruto pouted when he didn’t quite understand everything but he got enough to realize that it would be something fun.

“Can we go?”

“To the festival?”

Naruto nodded enthusiastically, eyes sparkling.

“What do you think, Hikari?” Minato asked his daughter in the other room, amused by the toddler’s pleading expression.

Said girl looked up blearily, loose strands of midnight black hair falling into her eyes. She huffed, blowing them out of her face as she shouted back, “Think about what?!”

“Going to the festival!”

“Does Naruto want to go?!”

“Yes!” the three-year-old answered for himself, almost screaming in his eagerness. Hikari snorted, and shouted back, “Sure, why not? I haven’t been to one in years either.”

“Yay!”

Already anticipating that the toddler was going to bolt out of the bathroom to go to a festival that had not yet started, Hikari continued, “Naruto, if you be good and take your bath, I’ll get you a new toy at the festival!”

Minato hid a chuckle behind his hand; it was a little eerie at how well Hikari seemed to predict Naruto’s actions but also pretty adorable. He chalked it up to the fact that both of them were technically the same person, or once were.

Back in the room, the bed dipped and creaked under the added weight of two additional people, Obito using Kamui to arrive with Kakashi in tow. He caught the last bit and commented, “Resorting to bribery already, midget?”

“Don’t call me that,” Hikari shot back instinctively, then threw an impressive glare at the Uchiha. It lost most of its effect though, considering that she was still half-buried in the quilt. “And I’d like to see _you_ corral an excited, hyperactive three-year-old.”

“No thanks, I’m not the parental type.”

“Just for that, I’m dumping Naruto in your hands and disappearing with everyone else, for a _week_.”

“Are you two always like this?” Kakashi interrupted, voice dry. It was strange for him to witness Obito snarking and bantering with someone in an almost deadpan way, since he used to be easily riled up.

Hikari and Obito turned their heads towards him in sync, the former chirping while the latter replied in a flat tone.

“Yeah!”

“Yes.”

“You’ll get used to it, Kakashi,” Minato remarked with a wry grin, emerging from the bathroom. He wiped his hands on the towel he had laid out earlier; Naruto wanted to take his bath by himself, so the man had given in with a laugh and slipped out. “They communicate by snark and sass most of the time; it’s rather entertaining.”

Kakashi nodded slowly, not sure what to make of that little tidbit, but since Minato didn’t appear concerned, he supposed he could get used to it. Then what he had heard when he and Obito had appeared in the room came back to him and he asked, “What’s this about a festival?”

“The villagers seem to be preparing for something like pre-winter festivities,” Minato explained, pausing when he caught sight of himself in the mirror, an odd look on his face. Black hair didn’t look _weird_ on him but it certainly threw him for a loop. “Naruto wants to go.”

“And that means we’re all going,” Hikari added before going back to bickering with Obito, the pair’s argument quickly devolving into a wrestling match. Kakashi watched incredulously as they tumbled off the bed and fell on the floor with a thud, only to keep fighting. Feeling eyes on him, the Hatake turned to see his former teacher watching him with a smile.

“Not what you’d expect of them, is it?” Minato asked in a quiet voice, sitting down next to Kakashi while directing his gaze to the squabbling pair. There was fondness in his blue eyes, with a hint of melancholy. “After everyone they had lost in the war, they needed something to take their minds off the pain. This was the result.”

Kakashi swallowed; Hikari had told him almost everything about the war in their former dimension, only sparing the more gruesome parts. “Doesn’t it hurt to look at me?”

Minato appeared startled by the whispered question, taking a moment to process it before understanding flashed in his expression. “Not really,” he replied, throwing an arm over the teen’s shoulder and pulling him close. “You’re a little different from _him_ , but that’s probably because he was in his early thirties by the time we met each other again. Experiences shape us.”

“I know. Do you…?”

“Want you to be him?” the older man finished the question, shaking his head firmly in response. “No, not at all. You’re you, and I’d be more than happy to see what kind of a person _you_ become.”

“What are you two talking about?”

Hikari’s voice cut off anything Kakashi or Minato could have said, the girl staring at them suspiciously from her position atop Obito’s stomach. The Uchiha was sprawled out on his back on the floor, rolling his eyes at her in exasperation and annoyance, but doing absolutely nothing to push her off.

“Nothing, nothing…”

* * *

Naruto watched with wide eyes shining with awe and delight at the colorful festival decorations, the lanterns placed along the pathways to light up the night. There were a lot of people around, laughing and playing, enjoying the food and games.

Now he understood why no one had gotten dinner that night; there was so much food here to try!

A delicious and familiar smell wafted through the air and Naruto sniffed, following the scent to a stall a few feet away. From his high perch on his father’s shoulders, he could see that it was really what he thought it was.

“Daddy, ramen!” he squealed, tugging the man’s dark hair. Naruto didn’t really understand why they had to change their hair colors but they all matched, so he thought it was okay.

Minato chuckled, not at all bothered by the sharp pull on his hair. It seemed that both Hikari and Naruto had inherited their mother’s love of ramen, something that was currently obvious by the way both kids’ eyes gleamed at the sight of the ramen stall.

“How about we go there last?” he suggested lightly, grabbing Hikari’s shoulder to stop her from dashing off. Minato wasn’t too concerned about his daughter, but he didn’t want to spoil Naruto’s appetite before he could enjoy the variety the festival offered. “Let’s get some snacks and play a few games before we have ramen.”

Both children pouted, Naruto making his displeasure clear by giving a particularly vicious tug on his father’s hair. They subsided though, staring at the ramen stall with sad expressions as they passed by.

That was when Obito materialized out of nowhere, munching on some dango. “Why are the brats sulking?”

Minato stared.

“Are you and Kakashi glued together or something?” he finally asked, a little confused. Ever since Kakashi had joined them, the pair was always together.

“More like he drags me everywhere,” Kakashi grumbled, stabbing a piece of takoyaki with more force than absolutely necessary.

“You aren’t really complaining,” Obito pointed out, smirking when the younger teen glared at him and jabbed an elbow into his side. “Anyway, the brats?”

“Dad didn’t let us get ramen,” came the complaint from Hikari, a pale hand darting out to grab two sticks of dango from the box the Uchiha carried. She ignored the growl she got in response, biting into the treat and holding up the other stick for Naruto to take.

“If you go there now, you’re more likely to clean up their entire stock. Where do you put all that food anyway? You’re so tiny and yet you eat like a damn _bear_.”

“As if _you_ don’t eat just as much, Obito-nii!”

Minato cut in before the two could start fighting; he did _not_ want to be barred from the festival for being a nuisance, thank you very much. “Obito, stop egging her on. Hikari, take Naruto to play some games, please.”

Obito and Hikari turned to glare at him, but the man simply raised an eyebrow, taking Naruto off his shoulders and placing him in the girl’s arms. Hikari gave him the stink-eye but acquiesced, running off with the toddler towards the nearby stalls. He wasn’t worried about any of them getting lost; they were all skilled shinobi capable of tracking.

Plus, she was a sensor.

“Did you really have to rile her up like that, Obito?”

The Uchiha shrugged, utterly unrepentant in the face of his former teacher’s exasperation. “She makes it easy,” he mumbled around a mouthful of dango, already having lost interest in the conversation.

Minato sighed as the scarred teen wandered off, Kakashi waving at him before following Obito. All four of them were quite the handful, even Obito, who was technically older than the Namikaze.

Something sparkling caught his eye and Minato blinked; there was a stall to his right that seemed to be selling little trinkets. That gave him the idea of souvenirs and he made a bee-line for it; there might be something that Hikari would like, considering that she was the only one who’d appreciate jewelry, as long as it was on the simpler side.

There were quite a few pretty ornaments: bracelets, earrings, hairpins and the like. Minato instantly crossed out the ones that shone too much; they were a little too gaudy for his daughter’s tastes.

“A gift for your little girl?”

“Huh?”

The old woman managing the stall, smiled at him, brown eyes crinkling at the edges with warmth. “I saw you earlier; are all four of them yours?”

Minato considered the woman; by all appearances she seemed to be a civilian, with her meagre chakra reserves and untrained body. There was nothing to indicate that she could be linked to shinobi and he decided that she was probably just a random civilian who had noticed them.

“Not quite,” he finally replied, giving her a smile of his own. “The kids are mine and the teens are my students…” Minato trailed off, mentally reevaluating his students’ relationship with him. “Although I sort of consider them my sons? So I suppose you could be right in a way, ma’am.”

“Family is what you make it, young man,” the woman chuckled, the wisdom of age in her knowing expression. “They’re very lucky to have you.”

“No, it’s definitely the other way around,” Minato shook his head firmly. He had once gone to his death with a heavy heart that he was leaving behind his baby girl and then woke up in the middle of a battlefield facing off against his teenage daughter. He believed it was nothing short of a miracle that they were able to enjoy this peace, even if they had had to lose a lot to get to this point.

He would never say that he would do it all over again, because he just _couldn’t_. He had gotten an impossible opportunity though, and he did not intend to waste it.

Minato’s gaze drifted over the crowd until it landed on his daughter’s familiar form; Hikari was crouched next to Naruto, cheering the boy on as he tried to scoop up a goldfish. Clearly sensing his stare, she turned her head. Upon finding out it was only her father, Hikari shot him a quick grin and a wave before focusing back on the toddler.

Kakashi and Obito were somewhere in the vicinity, the Hatake probably already annoyed by the latter but still following him around. No matter what age those were, they would always have an odd dynamic. It worked though, so who was Minato to complain?

“I’m the one who’s lucky to have them,” he murmured, more to himself than to the shopkeeper. Kushina’s loss was still a gaping wound in his heart but Minato knew that she would want him to live in the present.

Besides, Hikari would kick him to hell and back if she found him moping.

“Then you best treasure them, right?”

The old woman’s voice jerked Minato out of his thoughts, having almost forgotten that she was there. Laughing sheepishly at her chuckle, he nodded and directed his attention towards the items on display. There weren’t many things suited to a shinobi but it was to be expected; the stall was geared towards civilians, after all.

 _‘Guess I’ll look for souvenirs for the boys elsewhere,’_ he mused, studying the hairpins. Hikari preferred not to wear earrings and she already had a bracelet for her seals on her wrist. A hairpin, especially if it was one of those long, rigid ones, which could double as a weapon if necessary, was better.

A flash of violet caught his eye and Minato automatically reached for it, reminded of Kushina’s eyes. The item turned out to be exactly what he was looking for: a hairpin, or more accurately, a hair stick, made out of metal and violet flowers at the end. The metal was painted black, accentuating the flowers and giving the ornament a subtle shine.

“I’ll take this one.”

* * *

Hikari walked at a leisurely pace, keeping Naruto in sight as he ran ahead of her, a stuffed bear in his hands. She had bought him the toy as she had promised on their first day in the village, and also as a consolation for him not being able to get any goldfish.

Truth be told, she was glad that he _hadn’t_ caught one; none of their little family would remember to take care of it, considering how bad they were at looking after themselves. And Naruto would definitely bawl when the little fish inevitably died.

Nope, avoiding that at all costs.

“Nee-san, what’s that?”

Naruto was pointing at a candy stall, specifically at the fish-shaped pastries. The man at the stall grinned down at the toddler, “It’s called taiyaki, kid.”

“Taiyaki?”

“You know pancakes? Well, it’s like that, with different fillings like sweet red bean paste, custard, chocolate and so on, shaped like a fish!”

“Oh…can I have one, nee-san?”

Hikari chuckled when Naruto gave her the puppy-dog eyes, even when he knew that she was immune to them, no matter how adorable he looked. Even so, they were there to have fun, so she agreed. “Sure. Which one do you want?”

“Chocolate!”

“Chocolate it is.” Looking at the amused man, Hikari requested, “One chocolate and one red bean paste taiyaki, please!”

“Coming right up!”

A few minutes later, the man handed her two taiyaki in separate paper cups. Thanking him and handing over the money for the snacks, she gave an impatient Naruto his chocolate taiyaki, before guiding him out of the crowd.

Naruto took a bite of his snack, huffing a little at the heat before swallowing. “So good!” he gushed, taking another large bite. Hikari chuckled, biting into her own taiyaki. It was pretty good, the pastry well-cooked and firm, and the filling wasn’t too sweet.

Feeling eyes on her, Hikari looked down; Naruto was staring at her hand, almost drooling. He held an empty paper cup in his hand, proof that he had already gobbled down his own pastry. Smiling, the girl held out her taiyaki, “Want a bite?”

“Yeah!”

The boy’s eyes practically shone like the stars and Hikari had to stifle a snort. She crouched down to be at his level, holding the pastry to the toddler’s mouth. Naruto happily dug in, making delighted noises when he realized that he liked the flavor. He was about to take another bite when he remembered that it wasn’t his and slowly closed his mouth.

“Hmm…let’s do this…”

Hikari broke her red bean paste taiyaki into two, placing one half in Naruto’s cup and ruffling his hair when he hugged her in thanks. She didn’t mind sharing her food, if it made him smile.

_‘Seriously, he’s just too cute.’_

Pastries devoured, the two wiped off any crumbs on their hands and disposed of the paper cups, intending to head back into the festival. But as fate would have it, Naruto ran headfirst into a group of men who were also on the edges of the crowd, both sides stumbling at the impact.

Hikari caught the three-year-old before he could fall, wrinkling her nose as the stench of alcohol wafted to her. _‘So cliché,’_ she grumbled internally. _‘Of course we bump into drunkards! What’s next, a threatening act?’_

As if the drunkards had followed her thoughts, they immediately turned their attention on the two kids in front of them. The man in front, waved a bottle at them, hiccupping as he yelled, “Watch where you’re going, brats!”

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Hikari bowed, pulling a frightened Naruto behind her. No doubt he recognized the bitter scent of cheap alcohol from his days in the Red Light District.

“I’m sorry about my brother.”

“You better be!” the man yelled again, taking sloppy steps towards them. Hikari immediately backtracked, scowling at the clear intimidation tactic. Seriously, were they so insecure that they felt the need to threaten _kids_?

“No one was harmed, so can you just let us go?”

“Nah, too easy,” another man drawled, a violent glint in his eyes. He cracked his fists, taking a step towards the children. “Gotta teach you stinking brats a lesson!”

Before Hikari could do more than roll her eyes in annoyance and prepare to jump away with Naruto, three figures materialized out of nowhere, surrounding the startled group of drunkards.

Obito grabbed the man who had been about to throw a punch by the back of his shirt, and casually tossed him over his shoulder, uncaring of how and where the idiot landed.

It was rather funny; the Uchiha was holding a box of what smelt like freshly-made karaage in one hand and was probably munching on a piece, while throwing a fully-grown adult man like a paper ball.

Kakashi cheerfully tripped a man who tried to run, hopping back when another tried to make a grab at him and kicking him to the ground. He shot an amused glance at Hikari and Naruto, who were laughing at the sight. “Can’t you two go anywhere without getting into trouble?”

“Right back at you, Kashi-nii!”

The last man still on his feet whimpered, utterly cowed by the cold smile Minato directed at him. “Now, what were you saying to my children?”

“I’m sorry!” the poor, pale as a ghost, man screamed, stumbling over his feet as he tried to get away from the absolutely demonic man in front of him.

The family of five watched as the scared as hell men ran away screaming, probably already sober thanks to the pure terror inflicted upon them by two teens and a man clearly younger than them.

“Are you two okay, Hikari, Naruto?”

Minato knelt in front of the children, looking over them with worried eyes. He knew that Hikari could take care of herself and Naruto with no problem, but he couldn’t help it.

“Daddy!” Naruto launched himself at the man, wrapping his short arms around his father’s neck with a giggle. “You came!”

“Of course. I’ll always come for you, Naruto.”

“Don’t we get a thanks too, shrimp?” Obito interjected, passing his box of food to Kakashi before grabbing Naruto and tossing him up into the air, making the toddler yell in delight.

“Not good with kids…right,” Hikari scoffed, raising an eyebrow at the Uchiha who was playing with the child. For all that Obito fussed and refused to take care of Naruto, he was almost always the first to entertain the toddler.

Minato smiled at the scene, lifting his daughter into his arms. “Obito was the one who was willing to babysit children when he was younger,” he said, taking a short trip down memory lane. “Kakashi always disappeared and even Rin wasn’t quite so enthusiastic at times.”

“I can imagine that,” the girl commented with a snort. She blinked when something was pressed into her ponytail, raising a hand to the item. Realizing that it was an ornament of sorts, she traced it with her fingers before pulling it out.

It was a hair stick, like she had deduced, with a cluster of small violet flowers at the end. The black-painted metal shone in the dim light of the festival lanterns, giving the ornament an elegant look.

“The flowers match Mom’s eyes…”

“I had the same thought,” Minato admitted, looking a little nervous. “Do you like it?”

Hikari held it up to the light to see it better, smiling at the simple but beautiful design. Plus, it was practical. “I love it. Thanks, Dad!”

Laughing when the man beamed at her, she undid her ponytail and let her hair spill down her back. She deftly gathered some of the locks, twisting them into a bun and sliding the ornament into the strands to keep them together.

Minato took in his family with a pleased smile, grinning when they returned the gaze.

“Shall we go get a proper dinner now?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think next chapter will probably be the Hyuuga Affair.  
> Probably won't be as elaborate as it was in Twisting Reality...we'll see.
> 
> Posted: 09/12/2020


	5. Messing with Konoha

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Hyuuga Affair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas, everyone!
> 
> (A day late in some parts of the world, I suppose)

Minato watched as his daughter frowned at the little calendar on the wall, bemused by the intensity of her stare. After over ten minutes with no change in the situation, he asked, “Is there something wrong with the calendar, Hikari?”

The redhead didn’t reply immediately, lips pursed as she kept staring at the calendar. “Not the calendar,” she replied after a minute. “Just a particular date.”

“A date?” the man repeated, getting up from his seat to stand next to her. “What about it?”

“Remember the Hyuuga heiress, Hinata? That’s her birthday, December 27.” Hikari jabbed at a square on the calendar with a finger as she spoke, her frown not fading in the slightest. “It’s not her birthday that I’m worried about, but what happened that day.”

“At the cost of repeating your words again, what happened?” Minato asked, amused by his daughter’s scowl. He could admit that he was a little concerned, but since Hikari wasn’t running around in a panic, he assumed that it wasn’t serious or had an easy solution.

“The treaty between Konoha and Kumo was signed that day but Kumo did a turn-around and kidnapped Hinata. Hiashi-san gave chase and killed the Kumo nin. As expected, Kumo denied all allegations and demanded that Konoha compensate them according to the treaty.”

Now Minato was interested, looking at the redhead with a matching frown. “I’m assuming it wasn’t good.”

“Nope, it wasn’t.”

Hikari proceeded to tell her father what she knew about the treaty and how Konoha had resolved that incident. The blond winced at yet another demonstration of Konoha’s callous treatment of its citizens but couldn’t quite see why the girl was concerned and he asked as much.

“Well, I suppose it didn’t really affect Konoha in the long run,” she said hesitantly, twisting her fingers in frustration. “I know we decided not to bother with Konoha for a while, but could we change just this? I don’t want Neji to grow up without his father.”

Minato’s expression softened; he vaguely remembered the Hyuuga teen from the war. Neji had been the first one amongst Hikari’s friends to die and he knew that it had hit her hard. “Of course,” he replied, ruffling her hair gently and earning a brilliant smile.

“What are we doing this time?”

Obito walked into the room at that moment, holding Naruto in one arm. The toddler was fast asleep, drooling on the Uchiha’s shoulder, but the teen didn’t seem to mind. Kakashi was right behind him, carrying a basket of laundry. His expression showed curiosity, unlike the Uchiha’s bored one.

“Meddling in Konoha again,” Minato replied in a cheery voice, grinning when he got two deadpan stares in return. “It’s the Kumo treaty.”

The Uchiha hummed in acknowledgement and walked out of the room again, grabbing the laundry from Kakashi as he went. He already knew what the two Namikaze were talking about and didn’t think he needed to be there for any plan they concocted.

Kakashi remained behind, brow furrowed in thought. It had taken a seat on the backburner since he had been focused on Naruto, but he vaguely recalled that Konoha had been in talks with Kumo around the time he had ‘left’.

“Are we expecting a betrayal?”

“Of course we are. Shinobi villages always try to one-up one another,” Hikari scoffed, throwing herself face first onto the couch. “Can we plan something simple though? I really want as little to do as possible with Konoha until we are ready.”

Minato and Kakashi exchanged amused glances; the redhead was the one who had been most against leaving the village behind for a while but once she had embraced the freedom their choice offered, she was the first to demand that they relax and do whatever they wanted.

“Leave this one to me,” the blond man said slowly, the gears turning in his head. There was already the start of a plan in his mind and he might require Hikari’s assistance for a small part, but it was something he could on his own.

Besides, it was always fun to watch A rage whenever things didn’t go according to his wishes.

* * *

Minato sat perched upon the roof of a house with a clear view of the Hyuuga Compound, specifically the quarters which had been assigned to the Kumo Head Shinobi. The foreign nin’s chakra was bubbling, a mix of anticipation and adrenaline that was not customary of a resting person.

 _‘To let their guard down so easily, I wonder when Konoha started to trust people too much,’_ the Namikaze thought with a grimace. If it had been him, he would have provided separate accommodations for the Kumo nin, given the village’s penchant for stealing bloodlines.

Then again, Kumo would probably never have tried such a double-cross if Minato had been in power.

Sighing, Minato tugged his hood over his black hair, having taken on the same appearance he had used when he and Obito had visited Konoha weeks ago. Maintaining too many aliases was troublesome and he didn’t particularly care what moniker and reputation he was stuck with courtesy of Konoha.

With the faintest flicker of chakra, Minato used his Hiraishin to appear just outside of Hyuuga Hinata’s room. He had placed the seal on the door that morning, when he had arrived to scout and collect information. It wouldn’t have been noticed by any of the Hyuuga, thanks to a modification his daughter had designed during the war. In any case, he removed the seal; it wasn’t going to be of any use once his job was done.

Opening the door just enough to slip inside, Minato studied the room, taking in possible routes the Kumo nin could use. There weren’t many, unless he used a Shunshin, which was unlikely since the chakra usage would alert the Hyuuga, so the foreign nin was probably planning to do everything without jutsu for the first phase of his plan.

 _‘Not that he is going to get the chance,’_ Minato thought with a devious smirk. He pressed his palm on the floor next to the sleeping Hyuuga Heiress’ bed, placing a barrier seal that would spring up around the bed if activated. The activation conditions were simple: ill intent or chakra thrown at Hinata would be enough to trigger the seal.

The next seal Minato placed was designed to react only to the Kumo nin. Should the man enter the room to take Hinata, the seal would activate, trapping him inside a barrier while also paralyzing him. Minato considered adding a Genjutsu that would hide the trapped man from Hinata’s sight, should the girl wake up in the middle of the night, but decided against it. She could raise the alarm if it did happen and she was young enough to put the incident out of her mind in a few days.

Analyzing his work one last time to ensure that there were no errors, Minato nodded to himself and got to his feet. His last course of action was to place a letter on the desk.

All he had to do now was wait.

If dawn came without the Kumo Head Shinobi going through with his plan, the seals and letter in Hinata’s room would disappear, leaving no trace that Minato had ever been there.

But that was unlikely to happen, so he simply wondered how Konoha would respond to Kumo’s betrayal.

With his traps set, Minato vanished from the room, reappearing atop the roof he had been on earlier. “What should I do now?” he mused to himself, taking in the peaceful village. He no longer felt the burning rage at the villagers, but it wasn’t extinguished. There were other better targets for his fury than the ignorant civilians.

Humming to himself, the Namikaze stretched his senses throughout the village, in a bid to find something interesting until his trap was sprung.

“Oh?”

He perked up, finding a familiar chakra signature awake despite the late hour.

“Might as well pay a visit.”

* * *

Shikaku spun the cup of sake in his hand, watching the liquid swirl around with a blank expression. He was stressed beyond his limits, overworked in a way that he hadn’t been since the Third Shinobi War.

First, their Jinchuuriki disappeared without a trace. Gone, vanished off the face of the earth.

Second, one of their best shinobi, Hatake Kakashi, was assumed to be KIA. He never returned from his last mission and his body was missing, trail gone cold at his last known location.

Third, two unknown, powerful people had attacked Konoha, causing a surprisingly low amount of damage considering the intensity of their assault and literally zero casualties.

Fourth, the treaty with Kumo was _littered_ with loopholes.

Shikaku had been nursing a headache for days, cycling through guilt, regret, rage and helplessness. There were so many things he could have done and yet had not, resulting in an epic failure.

“Hindsight is always 20/20, huh?”

“I didn’t expect that phrase from a Nara.”

Shikaku tensed, wondering when the newcomer had arrived and why he hadn’t sensed him. He slowly raised his gaze, narrowed eyes focusing on the man who was leaning against a tree, green eyes gleaming with amusement.

 _‘He appears to be one of the two from that day,’_ the Nara thought, understanding why the other was classified as dangerous. The stranger had literally no presence, yet radiated an aura of power that set him on high alert.

A dangerous and contradictory combination.

“I suppose you’re not here to burn down another part of the village?” Shikaku asked drily, raising his cup of sake to the other man in a mock toast. “If the Nara Compound is your target this time, I hope you’d at least do me the courtesy of letting me know why.”

The man chuckled, tilting his head to the side as he watched the false casualness the Nara tried to project. “Don’t worry your poor head. I’m not here for that tonight. I think I’ve had my fill of being an arsonist.”

“Oh? You have something to do in Konoha?”

“I’ve already finished what I came here for,” the man shrugged, aware that he had the Nara’s full attention by the way the latter’s stare sharpened. “But leaving that aside for the moment, I have a question for you.”

“Do ask.”

Shikaku took a sip of his sake, eyes not leaving the stranger. There had been no threatening movements as of yet but the admission that the other’s task was complete made him uneasy. He wanted to extend the conversation as long as possible, to get as much information as he could.

“Since when was Konoha so naïve?”

Pausing at the strangeness of that question, Shikaku raised a thin eyebrow, setting down his cup. “Pardon?”

“You heard me. Kumo’s greed for bloodlines is well known, yet you have housed one of them in the Hyuuga Compound. And don’t tell me that Hiashi offered; you know better than to allow it.”

It was a valid question and something Shikaku had asked himself over and over again ever since the Sandaime had accepted the Hyuuga Clan Head’s offer. The loopholes in the treaty had already been irritating the Nara and that development had only exacerbated his frustration.

But first…

“How do you know that?”

The other man gave him a look, lips quirked up in a smirk. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Shikaku resisted the urge to glare at the man and inwardly grumbled about snarky people who loved to play mind games as much as he did. “Will you at least tell me your name? I can’t keep calling you ‘irritating stranger’ in my head.”

“Call me whatever you want. I don’t particularly care.”

“You sure? I’m not in the mood to be nice so I’ll stick you with something bland like Kuro,” Shikaku threatened the man half-heartedly, inwardly grumbling at the aura of amusement radiating from the other. “Or even Midori.”

“Really? The color of my hair or my eyes? Lazy Nara.”

“…you’re Kuro and that’s final.”

The newly dubbed Kuro snorted, shoulders shaking with laughter. “I stand by what I said; you’re the epitome of laziness,” he chuckled, mirth-filled green eyes shining in the moonlight. “Names aside, I’m curious as to why you’re not attacking me or at least alerting someone.”

“What _can_ I do? You can apparently come and go like the wind. We wouldn’t be having this conversation if I did either.”

It was true. Kuro could vanish as soundlessly as he had come if Shikaku did as much as move a finger and that would be useless for the latter. When the other only hummed in response, the Nara ventured cautiously, “You said you’ve finished whatever you came for.”

“I did.”

“Then why are you still here?”

Kuro’s gaze turned faintly vacant at that, like he was focusing on something Shikaku couldn’t see. “I’m waiting.”

“…waiting?”

“Yes.”

Shikaku stared at him expectantly, wanting an elaboration. When nothing was forthcoming, he sighed and picked up his sake cup, downing the remaining contents in one gulp. This was not what he had signed up for when he had decided to pull an all-nighter.

It was peaceful though, and he decided that it was fine to remain like that if it meant that Kuro wasn’t running around and causing havoc in Konoha.

The Nara always got his answers in the end.

* * *

Minato stared at his old friend, feeling a tinge of disappointment when the Nara didn’t show any sign of recognition. He hadn’t even changed his facial features, only the color and style of his hair and eye color. Otherwise he looked the same as he always did.

 _‘I suppose one wouldn’t really be on the lookout for a dead person,’_ he thought bitterly. It wasn’t for his sake but for his children. From what Hikari had inadvertently let slip, none of Kushina’s and his old friends had kept an eye on his daughter -son, in this dimension- and if they had, it had been only simple observation since Kakashi -both of them- had admitted that he had been the only protection detail the children had ever had.

Minato wasn’t an unreasonable man; he understood that the Sandaime had been trying to protect the children from his and Kushina’s many enemies. But there was a line between protection and ignorance and it had long since been crossed.

_‘Even if they couldn’t interact with Naruto openly, they could have watched over him and made sure that he was safe.’_

The same went for his daughter and while he yearned to go rip his old friends a new one, he held back. Minato didn’t want to reveal himself just yet. They could stew in their guilt for however long it took for his family to decide to return to Konoha.

Continuing down that line of thought, Minato was most disappointed in Shikaku and Fugaku. Those two had been his closest friends and had many ways to help his child, but they never did anything. Did they really think that their interference would attract the attention of the other villages?

Minato scoffed inwardly, _‘The villagers are so immersed in their hate that they don’t see the glaring resemblance and the other villages have it the other way around. They hate me so much that they would kill anyone with a passing similarity.’_

Did the Sandaime really believe that there were no spies in Konoha?

The Namikaze had sensed at least three foreign chakra signatures in the village, all of them above Genin-level. A quick surveillance had revealed that they weren’t defectors and that meant they were spies.

Honestly, it was pure dumb luck that the other Shinobi villages, especially Iwa and Kumo, hadn’t learnt of Naruto’s existence.

He sighed, letting go of his resentment and agitation. It wouldn’t do to let loose, when he was only in Konoha to observe.

Speaking of observation…

 _‘The Kumo nin has started moving,’_ Minato noted, sensing the man’s chakra signature sneaking around the Hyuuga Compound. He was being very cautious, taking care not to run into any patrols. Even so, he probably wouldn’t be caught; none of the Hyuuga had their Byakugan active, apparently as a sign of trust.

Fools.

In the few minutes it took for Minato to nitpick all of the holes in Konoha’s security, the Kumo Head Shinobi had reached Hinata’s room.

Minato was vibrating on the spot with anticipation, aware that Shikaku was staring at him weirdly, but he didn’t care. He was looking forward to what was going to happen next.

Like clockwork, the next few events progressed: the Kumo nin entered the room, chakra tinted with malice sharpening and focused on the little Hyuuga. His next step was his last, for the barrier and trap seals activated at that very second. A blue barrier enveloped Hinata’s bed, while a purple one sprung around the startled Kumo nin.

The man couldn’t even curse, chakra markings crawling up his body as the paralyzing component was triggered and he fell to the floor with a low thud.

 _‘Just like planned!’_ Minato cheered. Kumo no longer had a leg to stand on against Konoha and the Hyuuga wouldn’t have to sacrifice one of their own.

A dark grin split his face as he imagined how the Raikage would react and mentally made a note to pop into Kumo to witness it.

“Kuro?”

Shikaku’s wary voice pulled him out of his thoughts and Minato blinked, grin widening at the disturbed expression on the Nara’s face.

“It’s always nice when things go according to plan, no?”

The Nara’s confusion only deepened, brow furrowing as he eyed the gleeful man opposite him. “I suppose? What are you talking about?”

“You’ll know soon. A little warning: don’t tolerate backstabbers.”

With that cryptic piece of advice, Minato disappeared from the Nara Compound and Konoha entirely, leaving behind a bewildered Shikaku and a village that was soon to descend into chaos.

* * *

Hiashi felt uneasy, having a foreigner in his home. But he had been the one to offer and to go back on his word at the last minute would do him and his clan no favors. He reassured himself with the fact that it was for just one night.

Deciding to check on his family one last time before retiring for the night, he activated his Byakugan and did a sweep of the house. The direction he chose had him check his wife first, spotting his brother on patrol next, his sleeping nephew third and his daughter last. However, what he saw in Hinata’s room made him rush to his feet, heart skipping a beat in panic.

There was someone who should not be there in her room, chakra erratic and body pressed to the floor. It was only when he was dashing to Hinata’s room from his study that Hiashi realized two things: one, the intruder was the Kumo nin and two, he wasn’t moving.

All signs pointed to life but the man didn’t seem to be moving at all, except for breathing. Brow furrowed, Hiashi picked up his pace and was sliding open the door to his daughter’s room in seconds, staring in bewilderment at the sight that greeted him.

Hinata was fast asleep, tucked into her futon and a blue barrier surrounding her. The Kumo Head Shinobi laid on the floor, appearing to be paralyzed and trapped within a purple barrier. Cautiously, Hiashi stepped around the second barrier, making his way to his daughter.

Prodding the blue barrier with his chakra produced no reaction and though Hiashi was worried, since his Byakugan couldn’t see either barrier, he reached for Hinata. The barrier rippled and he tensed, worried if he had set something off. But it only disappeared, the seal markings surrounding the futon fading away.

Hiashi immediately picked up his daughter and backed out of the room, eyes trained on the conscious but unmoving Kumo nin. The expression of panic and fury frozen on the man’s face was enough to give away what he had been planning and the Hyuuga Clan Head glared, angered that Kumo had intended to stab them in the back all along.

He quickly checked over his daughter, relieved when he found that she was unharmed. Flaring his chakra to alert the nearby patrol, which was coincidentally being led by his brother, Hiashi studied Hinata’s room for hints to explain the full situation.

“Nii-san!”

Hizashi appeared next to him, a faint crease between his eyes the only sign of concern. He stopped a short distance away, a few members of the Hyuuga behind him. Hiashi cleared his throat, gesturing for his twin to take his daughter.

“Take Hinata to Hitomi,” he told his confused brother in a grim tone. His gaze slid towards the frozen Kumo nin, a dark glint in them in the pale eyes, “And inform Hokage-sama that Kumo has betrayed us.”

A single look into his niece’s room gave Hizashi all the information he needed and he murmured his understanding, moving to do as he was told. Kumogakure’s slight against them, in spite of the newly signed treaty, was a great offence.

“Who else was here?” Hiashi murmured to himself as activity picked up around him, some of his clan going to check the quarters that had been assigned to the Kumo Head Shinobi, while others spread the news. No one was allowed to enter the scene of the crime yet, with little to no information on what the purple barrier did.

A study of the room led the Hyuuga Clan Head to spot the letter on the edge of the desk, placed in a way that it seemed obtrusive. Whoever had left it there had clearly meant for it to be noticed.

When basic checks revealed no traps, Hiashi picked it up. There was no name on it and opening the flap spilled two folded sheets of paper. He unfolded the first one and started to read.

_Hyuuga Hiashi,_

_If you are reading this, then the Kumo Head Shinobi has attempted to kidnap your daughter. Currently, he should be trapped inside a purple barrier, with seal markings on his body. It is a paralyzing seal; the barrier will keep it active indefinitely. If he is moved, the effect will last for three hours._

_The seals are tied to only the Kumo nin’s chakra, so it will be harmless to anyone else. Feel free to study them but I doubt you’ll get anywhere._

_This is not a setup on my part, considering that I have nothing to gain from damaging the relations between Konoha and Kumo. I will tell you what I know: Kumo intended to capture Hyuuga Hinata for her Byakugan. If the kidnapping failed and the Kumo Head Shinobi was killed, what do you think would happen?_

_Read your treaty again if you still don’t realize the consequences._

_Kumo has been playing you like a fiddle and you fools haven’t even noticed. If there hadn’t been a child’s life hanging in the balance, I wouldn’t have bothered to interfere._

There were little bits of derision in the letter, seemingly directed at Konoha as a whole. But despite the contempt in the words, Hiashi couldn’t help but feel gratitude. If what this person was saying was the truth, then his clan had just avoided a disaster.

Checking with his Byakugan told him that the Hokage and a few ANBU teams were on the way, so Hiashi quickly scanned the second paper.

_For Hyuuga Hiashi’s eyes only._

_The paper is tied to your chakra alone and it will appear blank if someone else glances at it._

_Below is a storage seal containing some things that may interest you._

_Do with it what you will._

The four short sentences explained nothing and before Hiashi could check the storage seal, the Hokage arrived at the gates of the Hyuuga Compound. He slipped the second sheet of paper into his robe and walked out of Hinata’s room, assigning two of his clansmen lingering outside to keep an eye on the captive while he went to greet the Hokage.

Hiashi could analyze the second letter later.

* * *

Hiruzen listened with a mounting headache as Ibiki reported on the interrogation of the Kumo Head Shinobi, after he was found intruding upon the Hyuuga Heiress’ quarters. Perhaps if he had listened to his Council a little more and pressed Kumo into addressing their treaty’s drawbacks, the situation might not have happened.

“Whoever placed those seals is no slouch, Hokage-sama,” Morino Ibiki remarked, expression grudgingly impressed. Konoha didn’t have any Fuuinjutsu experts except Jiraiya of the Sannin, but there were a few who dabbled in the art. None of them were able to decipher even a fraction of the seal, the design so very complicated and intricate. “Our people could hammer at it all day and understand nothing.”

“I see…thank you, Ibiki. Keep the prisoner in one of the secure cells and make sure his chakra is cut off. We don’t want any suicide attempts before we can turn this to our advantage.”

“Understood.”

The old Sarutobi sighed as the Advisors and Council started arguing about how they should deal with Kumo’s betrayal, each idea more outrageous than the previous. He wasn’t too concerned with that line of discussion, taking comfort in the fact that having proof of the other village’s treachery was enough to push Kumo into a corner.

No, he was more interested in who had known about Kumo’s plot and had actively prevented its fulfilment.

“Enough!” Hiruzen thundered when the suggestions crossed the line and bordered on starting a new war, something that he would never condone. “Discussions on what we should demand as compensation for this treachery can be held at a later time, when we have cooler heads. What I want to know is of this mysterious stranger who had protected Hyuuga Hinata and laid a trap for the Kumo Head Shinobi.”

Silence reigned in the room, no one having answers for the question posed and looking uncertainly at each other.

All except one.

“…I think I may know _who_. But not _why_.”

Everyone turned towards the speaker, Shikaku having an expression of contemplation on his scarred face.

“What do you mean, Shikaku?”

“I had an unexpected visitor earlier tonight, Hokage-sama,” the Nara said slowly, still partly lost in thought. “It was the green-eyed man from that day.”

Danzo leaned forward, expression pinched as he demanded, “And why were we not made aware of this?”

“And risk him pulling a vanishing act before I could get any information from him?” Shikaku shot back flatly, unimpressed with the Advisor. “He didn’t come right out and say that that he did it, but he implied as much. Something about successful plans and to not tolerate backstabbers.”

The Nara nodded when realization dawned in the others’ eyes, “The trap to capture, not kill, the Kumo nin, and Kumo’s betrayal. It all fits.”

“Did he really not say anything about his motives?” Hiruzen queried, bewildered. Why would someone who had dropped into Konoha out of nowhere, burnt some buildings and professed hatred towards the village, now do something to benefit it?

“None,” Shikaku shrugged. “The letter Hiashi found says that he interfered because of Hinata. For an innocent child, and that we shouldn’t really expect anything else from him.”

“So we still don’t know anything about him.”

None of their investigations had turned up anything on the mysterious duo, not a single scrap of information. _‘At this rate, I will have to involve Jiraiya and his spy network,’_ the Sandaime thought wearily, gaze falling on the sketches of the seals found in Hinata’s room, that were lying on his table. _‘At the very least, he’ll be interested in these seals.’_

* * *

A loud boom, though slightly muffled, woke Minato and he opened his eyes in confusion, before registering the accompanying chakra signatures. He groaned into his pillow, mourning his lost sleep. He had stayed in Konoha for hours, watching to make sure that the Kumo nin didn’t escape before T&I could get their claws in him.

He trusted his Fuuinjutsu, but it wouldn’t hurt to be cautious.

“Might as well get up,” Minato muttered to himself as another boom was heard, throwing the blanket to the side while simultaneously swinging his legs off the bed. Yawning as he made his way to the bathroom, he wondered why his students were sparring so early in the morning. It wasn’t even past 7 A.M.

Once he was cleaned up, he dragged himself into the living room as he stifled yet another yawn. Hikari, who was curled up on the couch with a scroll, looked up as he entered, smiling widely. “Good morning, Dad,” she greeted happily, making room for the man next to her. “I thought you’d sleep a little longer.”

“I wanted to,” Minato mumbled as he plopped down, an arm over his eyes. “But the noise woke me up.”

The girl blinked, as if only then noticing the noise from outside. “Oh. I guess I tuned them out.”

“Where’s Naruto?”

“Outside, cheering on Kakashi-nii and Obito-nii. He was up at 6 or something, and proceeded to drag me out of bed for a snack,” Hikari informed her father drily, making him chuckle.

“Better you than me. Is it safe for him to be outside though? With how much chakra those two are throwing around?”

“I have a Kage Bunshin watching him and Naruto knows better than to run out recklessly when jutsu are being used,” the redhead replied, setting her scroll to the side and getting up with a stretch. “I’m going to make breakfast. Want anything in particular?”

Minato followed his daughter into the kitchen, feeling a little more awake. “I’ll help,” he said absently, taking in the contents of the cabinets. “And anything’s fine, though it doesn’t seem like we have much stuff left. We’ll have to go grocery shopping soon.”

“I wouldn’t worry, since we’re leaving this location tomorrow. We can get more stuff in the next village we go to.”

“That’s a good idea.”

The duo settled into a rhythm, dancing around each other easily as they maneuvered around the kitchen preparing breakfast. Hikari broke the silence, chopping some carrots as she asked, “How did it go?”

Minato knew what she was asking about and he grinned. “All according to plan. Hinata was perfectly fine and probably unaware of what could have happened. It was Hiashi who found the trapped Kumo nin and raised the alarm.”

Hikari’s shoulders slumped in relief. She had the utmost faith in her father and trusted him when he had told her that he would handle the situation, but it was relieving to hear that things were fine. She went in for a hug, wrapping her arms around Minato’s waist tightly.

“Thanks, Dad. Really.”

“You’re welcome, Hikari,” Minato chuckled, returning the hug. “I also visited Shikaku. He named me Kuro.”

“What?” The redhead drew back a little, squinting up at the man in confusion. “ _‘Kuro’_ ”?

“After the appearance I took during my ‘visits’ to Konoha.” The blond snorted, shaking his head. “An unimaginative name, since he named me after my _hair_.”

Hikari started laughing, hopping back with a grin. “I see where Shikamaru got it from,” she commented, returning to the breakfast preparations. “All Nara are probably lazy unless they’re insanely curious about something. We don’t have to worry about anyone on our tail, right?”

“I didn’t reveal anything about us. Apart from piquing his curiosity with a few comments about Konoha.”

“Think Shikaku-san will figure it out?”

“Without having any information and the chance to interact with us? Unlikely,” Minato replied, pulling out a carton of milk and pouring the contents into a few mugs. He could sense his students’ spar winding down and knew that they’d be in for breakfast soon. “Even Shikaku would be hard-pressed to theorize that he had actually been talking with someone who was supposed to be dead.”

“True. Well, we don’t have anything to do with or in Konoha for a while anyway. Not like we’re going to run into him anytime again anytime soon.”

Humming in agreement, Minato tilted his head to the side. He was studying his students’ chakra reserves with his sensory skills, frowning in thought. “Is it just me or does Kakashi feel…rather weak?”

Hikari snorted in response and eyed her father with an amused side-glance. “Compared to us, almost everyone will feel weak. And you’re remembering Kakashi-nii from the war. Kashi-nii is still seventeen here; he’ll grow. Anyone else will stare at you weirdly for that comment though.”

“Huh? Why?”

“I keep forgetting that you really don’t know everyone’s life before the war,” the girl remarked, giggling at the raised eyebrow Minato shot her. “Kashi-nii is known as the Copy-nin, right? He learnt over a thousand jutsu with his Sharingan to earn that title.”

“Impressive. But he doesn’t have the chakra reserves to use them efficiently.”

“Yeah. Naruto has the same amount chakra as Kashi-nii and Naruto’s reserves will only grow larger.”

“Hmm…think we can get him to catch up to us?”

Hikari paused, turning her stare upon her grinning father. Rolling around the man’s words in her head, she slowly processed it, a devious smirk curling her mouth.

“Oh, _definitely_.”

In the grounds outside the little house, Kakashi shivered, cold tendrils of terror creeping down his spine.

_‘Why do I feel like I should make a run for it?’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pretty short, since there really wasn't a need to drag it out.  
> What do you think of this version of the Hyuuga Affair?
> 
> My plans for the next chapter aren't set in stone yet, so feel free to drop ideas in the comments!
> 
> Posted: 25/12/2020


	6. Two types of chases

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The collecting spree starts and a chase begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter gave me quite a bit of trouble but I hope it's satisfactory.
> 
> Happy reading~

“…”

“Hikari.”

“…”

“Oi, brat.”

“…”

“Are you listening to me, midget?!”

“Ow!”

Hikari rubbed the top of her head, glaring up at the irritated Uchiha through her dyed fringe. “What was that for?”

“I’ve been calling out to you for the last five minutes,” Obito replied, raising an eyebrow in question when the girl blinked confusedly. “What’s got you so distracted?”

“…I jinxed us.”

“Hah?”

“Look, over there.”

She pointed down the street, blue eyes fixed on a rather familiar figure. The person wasn’t looking in the pair’s direction, instead conversing with his two companions. “I told Dad that it wasn’t likely that we’d bump into Shikaku-san anytime soon,” Hikari said ruefully, memorizing the Ino-Shika-Cho’s chakra signatures. That bit of knowledge might come in handy someday. “But look who we have here.”

Obito snorted. “Your luck is crazy as usual. Think we should make a run for it?”

Hikari considered the suggestion for a moment, then shook her head. “No, let’s finish restocking first. Our seals are at full power and our appearances aren’t eye-catching. It’s unlikely we’d be noticed and even if we were, they wouldn’t recognize us.”

“True,” the Uchiha grunted, taking the package held out to him. He and Hikari were in a small village, buying supplies for themselves. It might have been strange if the group of five moved about together, so the two of them had volunteered to go shopping while the others went on ahead. “Sensei and Kakashi would stand out unless they completely change their appearances.”

“Yeah. There’s no use in elaborate disguises that are only necessary for a short time.”

Paying the shopkeeper while Hikari put their purchases into storage seals, Obito studied the trio in the distance. They weren’t dressed in the usual shinobi garb, donning casual clothes instead. But they hadn’t changed their looks in any way, so he assumed that they were on a simple mission and just didn’t want to be conspicuous. _‘In a village as small as this, the arrival of shinobi wouldn’t go unnoticed.’_

“Hikari, can you handle the rest of the shopping yourself?”

The girl frowned, raising her gaze from the list she had been checking to meet the Uchiha’s gaze. “I suppose, but why?”

“I’m going to tail those three.”

“What for?”

“Is it a coincidence that they’re here or did they find out something about us? I want to know if we need to watch out for pursuers.”

Understanding the reasoning, Hikari waved a dismissive hand at the Uchiha, already shifting her attention back to the list. “Go, have fun. Play pranks on them if you like.”

Obito huffed at the last statement, smiling a little as he ruffled the girl’s hair and walked away. He turned a corner, slipping into an empty alley and disappeared.

Shikaku frowned, turning his head to peer at a shadowed corner. But there was nothing there; even enhancing his senses with chakra didn’t help.

“Shikaku? Something wrong?”

“No…I suppose not,” the Nara replied after a few seconds, making Inoichi and Chouza exchange bemused glances before shrugging. Their friend could be rather odd at times, after all.

“Come on, let’s go to the next place. There’s nothing to be found here.”

The dark-haired man nodded in agreement, looking back at the corner one last time before following his teammates.

_‘Strange…I could have sworn that someone was staring at me.’_

* * *

Naruto squinted his eyes, trying to make sense of the landscape. Everything was covered in white, thanks to the snow. It was cold and windy too, but his new orange jacket kept him warm and toasty. He just didn’t understand why they were out walking in bad weather when they could have made camp.

“Daddy?”

“Yes, Naruto?”

The boy looked down at his father’s head. Naruto was perched atop Minato’s shoulders, the man keeping a tight grip on his legs to ensure that he didn’t fall off. “Why are we out in snow?”

“We’re looking for two people,” Minato answered, nodding to Kakashi when the teen signaled that he was going to check the area further in the mountainous region the trio were currently in.

“Why are they out in snow?”

“Because they don’t have a home to return to.”

“Oh. That’s sad.”

Minato chuckled at his son’s downtrodden reply, inwardly marveling at how empathetic the child was. “Don’t worry, Naruto. We’re looking for them so that we can give them a home. You’ll welcome them, right?”

“Yes, Daddy! Can I help?”

“Good boy. For now, just keep your eyes peeled for caves or anything weird.”

“Okay!”

Smiling at the child’s enthusiasm -he was almost certain that Naruto had a look of utter concentration on his face- Minato turned his attention back to the landscape. They were at the borders of Tsuchi no Kuni and it would be risky to go further in without proper preparations. There was a possibility of running into Iwa nin, which he wanted to avoid at all costs.

Minato pushed strands of black hair out of his eyes, frowning as he extended his senses. His range was improving and he estimated that he would regain his previous sensory range with a few more days of practice. Right now he could sense up to twenty miles around him; unfortunately, Kakashi was the only other human in the vicinity.

The group had initially stopped in Kusa, since that was where Hikari had known Karin to be in their original dimension. But they had figured out that she had not arrived in the village yet, not seeing her or mother anywhere. That left them to search the surrounding areas.

Hikari’s clones had proven useful in that regard, quickly eliminating Taki off the list. That left Ame and Tsuchi. Venturing into Ame was risky, since Nagato was there and would be able to sense them the instant they stepped foot into the country, because of the constant rain. Tsuchi was safer in a way, thanks to the mountains.

Iwa nin were notoriously arrogant when it came to their natural defenses and while Minato knew it was nothing to be scoffed at, it wasn’t something he couldn’t handle. Thanks to that, they had decided to search the nearby regions of Tsuchi first.

Hence the reason why they were taking a lovely trek in an incoming snowstorm.

Fifteen minutes later saw them with no results and the snowstorm had increased in strength, the wind howling as snow pelted their bodies. “Sensei, we should leave or look for shelter!” Kakashi shouted over the gale, trudging along behind the father-son pair. He had quickly rejoined them when the wind had started to pick up; while he could handle himself in a snowstorm, there was no point in getting lost and having to wait for Minato to find him.

“See if you can find a cave!” Minato shouted back, raising his hands to get Naruto down from his shoulders. Even if the child liked it high up and wasn’t bothered by the snowstorm, it was still dangerous. “If not, we’ll head back!”

Before Minato could grab the toddler though, Naruto tightened his grip on his father’s hair and shouted, “Daddy, look! A cave!”

The older two looked in the direction Naruto pointed. There indeed was a cave in the mountain but it was rather far away. It was pretty amazing that Naruto had spotted it. “Good work,” Minato praised, tucking the cheering toddler under his arm. “Come on, let’s get there before the snowstorm becomes worse.”

* * *

Karin shivered violently and pulled the ratty blanket tighter around her shoulders, pressing closer to the unconscious form of her mother. “Mom…”

Manami was cold, her back facing the mouth of the cave they were in, in an attempt to keep some of the chill from reaching the little girl. Karin whimpered, cradling her mother’s icy hands and rubbing them to get the blood circulating. At the rate they were going, there was a big chance of them freezing to death.

“Daddy, someone’s there!”

The girl stiffened at the voice, fear lancing through her heart at the thought of being attacked by strangers. Karin had no idea what to do; she was too weak to defend herself and her mother, her frozen limbs not helping. So she tried to keep herself as still as possible, in the vain hope that they’d be unnoticed.

No such luck.

“The lady’s skin is blue!”

Minato barely kept a frown off his face as he agreed with his son’s exclamation; he didn’t want to alarm Naruto and send him into a panic. The motionless woman indeed looked frozen. If it wasn’t for the flickering of her chakra, he would have thought her dead. But the child pressed to her was slightly better off, chakra still vibrant though laced with fear.

“Kakashi, can you seal off the entrance and start a fire?” Minato asked his student, already reaching for his pack in search of supplies. The teen nodded and started on his task, setting up seals around the mouth of the cave. Physically blocking the entrance wouldn’t do, since the smoke from a fire wouldn’t be able to escape. Barrier seals to prevent the chilly winds from entering the cave was a better solution.

Whispering a quick thanks to Kakashi for his prompt actions, Minato looked at his son who was vibrating on the spot, gaze locked with the little girl. The man unsealed a bag from one of his storage seals and handed it to the boy, “Think you can find your sister’s extra coat and scarf for the little lady here?”

Naruto nodded fiercely and pulled the offered bag closer to him, digging into its depths in search of the aforementioned items.

Satisfied, Minato turned to meet the wary gaze of the little girl, who had shifted her eyes to him once Naruto was distracted. “What do you want?” she demanded in a shaky voice, tiny hands clutching her mother’s dress. “Don’t hurt Mom!”

“I won’t,” the Namikaze said softly, hands raised in a calming gesture. “I just want to help your mother. She’s really cold and might get sick if we don’t get her warm soon.”

“Promise?”

“I promise. Is it okay to come closer?”

The little girl gave a hesitant nod in response, eyes trained on the man’s hands in expectation of an attack. Minato didn’t react to her burning stare; instead, he reached out to turn the woman onto her back, frown deepening when he realized that she was too cold. He needed to work fast.

All of the thermal blankets in their possession were dug out and Minato spread a couple on the floor, placing the woman atop them. Her shawl and coat, damp from the snow, were removed next and a blanket was placed over her. By then, Kakashi had started the fire, close enough for them to feel the heat but far enough that nothing would burn.

“I’ll hang these to dry,” Kakashi stated as he took the wet clothing from Minato, eyeing Naruto who was insistently pushing a blue scarf towards a scared-looking girl. “You might want to rescue the kid before Naruto scares her further.”

Minato chuckled but shook his head. “I think she’ll be more receptive to another child than an adult.”

And he was right. Karin’s initial wariness had all but disappeared in the face of the boy with earnest blue eyes, who was pleading for her to take the scarf. “Take it! Nee-san’s scarf is really warm!”

“Okay…” she mumbled, accepting the article of clothing. The wool was soft and reminded her of fluffy clouds; she buried her fingers in the material, marveling at how comforting it was.

“I’m Naruto!” the boy introduced himself with a wide grin. “What’s your name?”

“Karin. My mom is Manami.”

“Nice to meet you!”

“Same here,” Minato added, gesturing for the kids to join him around the fire. “My name is Minato and that’s Kakashi.”

Karin nodded, a nervous but grateful smile on her face as she took a seat on the blankets next to her mother. “Thank you for helping us.”

“Don’t worry about it. Would you like to change out of those wet clothes?”

The little redhead stiffened and shook her head violently.

Minato winced in understanding; the two females had likely not had any good experiences with men and he didn’t know when the father had left or died. But Manami and Karin really did need to change into warmer clothing before they fell ill. Even if Karin could change on her own, that still left Manami.

_‘I wonder if Hikari and Obito are done with shopping.’_

“Would you be comfortable with a girl’s help, Karin?” Minato asked, one hand reaching into his pocket for Hikari’s Hiraishin kunai. He always had one of hers while she had his. “I can ask my daughter to come help.”

Karin’s expression brightened slightly and she nodded, pleased at the chance to meet another girl. If she was as friendly as the trio in front of her, then Karin didn’t have anything to worry about.

“Okay then. I’m going to call her and another person with a jutsu, so don’t be scared, okay?”

Hikari frowned when she felt a tug from her Hiraishin kunai that Minato had and internally sighed. She was done with shopping and was just waiting for a few items she had decided to purchase on an afterthought. Still, that wouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes.

No, the main thing was that Obito wasn’t back yet.

She could feel his chakra slinking around the village, still tailing the Ino-Shika-Cho. Judging by the razor-sharp focus in his chakra, it was unlikely that he’d meet up with her soon.

Seemed like Hikari would need to go to him.

“Here you go, girlie! That’ll be 5000 Ryo!”

“Thanks, mister!” Hikari grinned up at the shopkeeper, taking the bag he held out to her while holding out the required amount of money in her free hand. Once the transaction was complete, she dashed off into a darkened corner of the street. The last few bags hanging off her arms were dumped into a storage seal, leaving her hands free.

_‘Now to find Obito-nii and meet up with Dad!’_

With that thought in mind, she zeroed in on the Uchiha’s chakra and used a Shunshin, trying to keep her chakra usage as low as possible. While her seals were active, they weren’t suppressing all her chakra, since she needed to pass as a civilian. If she used a little too much chakra, there was a chance of being exposed.

Thankfully, the trio of shinobi did not notice and Hikari appeared silently next to Obito, who was perched on the roof of a restaurant. He didn’t bat an eye at her sudden appearance, simply shifting his gaze to her with an inquisitive expression. “Time to go?”

“Yep. Dad’s calling. By the way, did you find anything useful?”

The scarred teen shook his head, getting to his feet and following the girl. “Nothing useful or important. It looks like like Sensei’s action during the Kumo incident sparked a lot of unease and curiosity, but Konoha’s nowhere near figuring us out.”

“Then those guys being here is simply a coincidence?”

“Yeah.”

“Awesome,” Hikari grinned. She was looking forward to leading them around on a wild goose chase, if Konoha ever _did_ pick up on their tracks, which might be possible if they pulled in Jiraiya. Actually, it was likely that he was already on the hunt for them, since there was no way he would be sitting still when Naruto was registered as missing.

That was a concern for the future though.

Hikari grabbed the amused Uchiha’s hand and triggered the Hiraishin with barely a flicker of chakra. They were gone the next instant, leaving behind a deserted street.

* * *

Manami woke to warmth, something soft covering her and the sound of Karin’s laughter. It took her a few moments to get her bearings, having only hazy memories of the time before she had lost consciousness. The last thing she remembered was darkness and holding her daughter close to her.

The two Uzumaki had originally been near Takigakure and had been planning to cross the border to seek shelter in Kusagakure after they had been denied entry into Taki. But they had lost their way and stumbled into the mountains of Tsuchi no Kuni. Manami had panicked; it was winter and they hadn’t any warm clothing, making traversing the snowy mountains more dangerous.

With no one around to ask for directions, Manami and Karin had resorted to sticking to the very edge of the mountains, hoping that they could find the right way to Kusa soon. But the snowstorm that had come out of nowhere had impeded their progress and the two had sought shelter in a nearby cave.

“Ugh…”

“Looks like your mom’s awake, Karin.”

The unfamiliar voice jolted Manami to full awareness and she shot up, head whipping to the side to find six pairs of eyes watching her. Before she could do or say anything, Karin tackled her with a cry, small arms winding around her neck. “Mom! How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine, sweetie,” she murmured, voice soft. Manami returned the hug, squeezing her daughter tightly before switching her attention to the strangers. There was an adult man, two teenage boys and two kids, a girl and a boy. None of them seemed or felt hostile, so the woman relaxed.

A thought occurred to her and she asked, “Did you help us?”

The man nodded, a friendly smile on his face. “Yes. You were bordering on hypothermia, so it was lucky that we found you when we did.”

“Oh. Thank you very much,” Manami bowed as much as she could, considering her seated position. She didn’t doubt his worlds; the biting chill that had rendered her motionless was still fresh in her memory. It was likely that she and her daughter could have frozen to death.

Karin wriggled out of her grasp and did a twirl, a delighted grin on her face. “Look, Mom! New clothes!”

The little redhead was indeed sporting new clothes, instead of the thin grey shirt and shorts she had worn before. She was now dressed warmly in a cream-colored sweater, black pants and a pale violet winter jacket. There were even new shoes on her feet.

“You look very pretty, Karin,” Manami complimented, casting a questioning glance at the man whose smile widened and answered her silent query with a single nod. “Did you say thanks?”

“I did! They got you new clothes too! We match!”

“What?”

The woman blinked and looked down at herself. In her concern for her daughter, she had forgotten about herself. She was wearing a full-sleeved cream-colored shirt, paired with a black skirt that reached down to her ankles. The clothing was clearly made for travel in cold conditions, thick and durable.

A flush crept up the woman’s neck and colored her cheeks and Manami ducked her head in embarrassment. She understood that her clothes had probably been wet from the snow and they had to be removed for her health. But there was no way Karin could have changed her, so…

“Don’t worry; I was the one who changed you and Karin,” the black-haired girl piped up, correctly interpreting the reason for Manami’s embarrassment. “I kicked everyone at that time too.”

“Thank you…but why would you go so far for us?”

“Before that, you should eat,” the teen with scars on his face interrupted. He had been stirring something in a pot over the fire and judging by the smell, it was some kind of soup. The other teenager produced two bowls out of what seemed like nowhere but Manami knew enough to figure out that he had gotten them from a storage seal.

Manami and Karin were laden with steaming bowls of vegetable soup within the next few seconds, the pair blinking bemusedly before digging in.

“To answer your question from earlier, we were actually looking for you,” the man spoke after at least half the bowls were empty, making Manami stiffen at the unknown implication in the words.

“Why?” she asked suspiciously. While they had done nothing to them so far, it didn’t mean that they were completely safe. Manami had had enough of being hunted down just for her bloodline. She did not want Karin to grow up like that too.

“Cause you’re family!”

The boy, who looked to be around Karin’s age, beamed, blue eyes sparkling as he dashed over and patted Manami’s hands clumsily. “And family sticks together!”

“I…what?”

Manami stared in shock, absently wrapping an arm around Karin’s shoulders when the girl pressed against her side. She couldn’t believe the boy’s words, not after never meeting any of her clan all her life after Uzushio’s fall.

“He’s not lying,” the girl with long black hair said with a smile. She had the same blue eyes as the boy and the man, making Manami assume that they were blood relatives. “We’re currently using a seal-based Henge to hide our appearances, since we really, really don’t want to be found. Or at least most of us; Obito-nii’s looks are his own.”

The scarred teen snorted, casting a deadpan stare at the girl who only snickered at his reaction. “I’m pretty sure that we already established that I’m the only one who’s least likely to be recognized,” he retorted drily, far too used to the tease.

“Yup. Anyway, we’ll drop the Henge so that you can see us for real,” the girl told Manami. She made a handsign; there was a faint fizzle of chakra that Manami detected and that was how she knew that the seal had been broken.

Out of five dark haired people, only the scarred teen was left. The other teenager had silvery gray hair, the man and the toddler had sunshine blonde hair, but what took Manami and Karin aback was the girl.

She had fiery crimson hair.

“You’re…”

“Namikaze Hikari, also Uzumaki Hikari, at your service,” the newly revealed redhead chirped cheerfully, blue eyes twinkling mischievously.

_‘Wait, did she just say Namikaze?!’_

Manami’s eyes widened and she looked at the man sharply, taking in his bright blue eyes and blonde hair. All of a sudden, those features took on a whole new meaning.

She had never come across him before or even seen a picture of him, but she had heard enough about him to realize that the man seated across her was Konoha’s Yondaime Hokage, the Kiiroi Senko.

Namikaze Minato.

“But you’re supposed to be dead,” Manami whispered, almost faint with shock.

Minato shrugged, a half-grimace on his face. “Yes,” he admitted, quickly eyeing the blond toddler who was thankfully preoccupied with feeding candy to a happy Karin. Thankfully, neither child was paying attention to their conversation.

“We’re not sure how, but a jutsu worked in an unexpected manner and brought me back to life,” Minato explained quietly. “It’s a secret though. The only ones who know I am alive are all in this cave.”

“Why didn’t you return to Konoha?”

“After what they did to my children, I won’t be forgiving them anytime soon,” he muttered darkly, making the teenagers nod in agreement. Hikari sighed and climbed into her father’s lap, hugging him tightly.

“Dad really doesn’t like talking about Konoha.”

Manami could understand. A parent’s love for their child would overcome all boundaries and if she would do anything for Karin’s happiness and safety, then Minato, with all of his power, could easily destroy a village for his children.

“Anyway, let’s continue with the rest of the introductions,” Hikari smoothly changed the subject of the conversation, sensing that Manami believed their words to be the truth, even if it was missing a few facts. “These two are Dad’s students, Uchiha Obito, and Hatake Kakashi,” she pointed to the dark-haired teen first then to the masked one. “And my little brother is Naruto.”

“Also, just so you know, I’ve been declared dead for years,” Obito cut in, a sardonic smile on his face as he casually spoke about his legal status. “KIA and all that, but not really, as you can see. And Kakashi here is currently marked as MIA but we expect that to change to KIA soon.”

Manami blinked. “What?”

“We thought that Obito died during a mission,” Kakashi explained when the Uchiha elbowed him to answer in his stead, glaring at the other teen but complying. “And I wasn’t in Konoha when Sensei took Naruto from the village, so I went on a lot of missions to try and find him. It was in the middle of one that these guys kidnapped me and I never returned, so it makes sense to declare me KIA.”

“I see…”

That was a lot of information, so they left Manami to process it in silence, for which she was grateful. While she wasn’t a combatant, she had some sensory skill and had been using it to monitor the others. She hadn’t sensed any lies, so she knew she could trust them. And Karin, who was a sensor far surpassing her mother, was at ease, which said a lot.

Manami watched as Hikari left the adults and skipped over to the children, dropping to sit on crossed legs beside them. Naruto immediately climbed onto her lap, excitedly showing her something he had in his hands. After a few seconds of hesitation, Karin joined them, standing next to the older redhead’s knee and squeaking in embarrassment when her head was patted in a fond manner.

It was for her daughter’s sake that Manami made her choice.

“If we were to join you,” she started seriously, looking Minato straight in the eyes, with all the determination and steel of a devoted mother, “would you guarantee my child’s safety and happiness?”

Minato understood what the woman was asking and smiled, nodding in response. He was the same, wanting to give Hikari and Naruto a better childhood than what they had already experienced. “Of course. No matter what, the children come first.”

“I believe you. You love those two very much.”

“More than anything.”

“I can see that in your eyes. Anyway, where are we going after this?”

“Hmm…as a heads-up, I’ll tell you that we’ll head to Konoha one day. But for now, we’re touring the world. How does a tropical beach sound?”

* * *

Jiraiya eyed the lines of exhaustion on the Sandaime’s face but didn’t comment on it, knowing full well that he probably looked somewhat similar. “What did you need me for so urgently that you pulled me from my search?”

If he sounded a little more aggressive than he had intended to, he neither cared or apologized.

The old Hokage sighed but obliged to the demand, pushing some papers towards his former student. “I assume you’ve read the report I sent you about what had happened in the Hyuuga compound?” When Jiraiya nodded, he continued, “These are the seals that were found in Hyuuga Hinata’s room. Can you make any sense of them?”

Snatching up the papers from the desk, Jiraiya plopped down on a nearby chair and squinted at the ink. As expected, the seals were completely unknown to him, which verified his suspicions that they were original creations. They also employed an unusual method of layering, something that could and would stump any low-level Fuuinjutsu practitioner because of the sheer impossibility in figuring out which component belonged to which layer.

Even he had a hard time deciphering it; unravelling the entire thing would take weeks of work and research.

He said as much to the Sarutobi.

“We’ve hit a dead end then,” Hiruzen murmured, tapping his pipe against the wood of the desk. He had been hoping that figuring out the seals would give them a hint towards the identity of the man Shikaku had dubbed as ‘Kuro’ but it seemed like that was not the case.

“But,” Jiraiya interrupted, scratching his head in confusion. “This is a little weird.”

“Weird how?”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say this style of Fuuinjutsu belongs to a certain someone, except for some parts.”

Hiruzen frowned. There weren’t many Fuuinjutsu masters, even when counting in all the Elemental Nations, which was why he had been hoping to narrow down the list of possible culprits. But what Jiraiya was saying implied that he recognized the seal work. “Who are you referring to?”

The Gama Sennin didn’t reply for a long time, staring at the papers in his hand with a deep-set frown. When Hiruzen was just about to give up on receiving an answer, Jiraiya raised his head, meeting the old man’s eyes with an intense but bewildered gaze.

“A _dead_ man.”

He paused, turning his head to the side, eyeing the portraits on the wall, stopping at one and staring.

“Namikaze Minato.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minato, chilling on the beach: * _sneezes_ * Is someone talking about me?
> 
> Jokes aside, Minato already knew that Jiraiya would recognize his seal work and got Hikari to tweak them since she has a different style. That way Jiraiya would put it down to someone who somehow stole Minato's work and then go in search of spies in Konoha, thereby starting a purge of the lurking spies.
> 
> Sneaky, sneaky...
> 
> A question for you guys: should Hikari and Minato go 'screw international relations, we're kidnapping Gaara' or should they only fix his seal? (I'm leaning towards the first option, for the pure entertainment factor and Panda-chan growing up in the Uzumaki-Namikaze household XD)
> 
> Posted: 30/01/2021


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